Background
Visser was born in Groningen and became involved in the Dutch resistance during World World War II when he was still in High School.
Visser was born in Groningen and became involved in the Dutch resistance during World World War II when he was still in High School.
He was condemned to death and waited three months on death row before being sent to prison camp in Germany. After the war he went to work for a munitions factory and traveled to Russia and Indonesia, where he began his collection of arms and armory. His collection was documented by the curator January Piet Puype who discovered that he had important examples of ivory pistols from Maastricht arms makers, most notably by January Hermans dated 1660-1665, by Michel de Louisiana Pierre dated 1660-1665, by Jacob Kosters dated ca.
1670, by Leonard Cleuter dated 1660-1665 and by Jean Louroux dated before 1670.
The Visser Collection: Arms of the Netherlands in the Collection of H. L. Visser, Volume I: Catalogue of Firearms, Swords and Related Objects, by January Piet Puype,
The Visser Collection: Arms of the Netherlands in the Collection of Half-Life Visser, Volume II: Ordnance, by R. Roth, Waanders, Zwolle, 1996.