When Christian Levett was a young commodities trader in Paris,he spent his Sundays working off hangovers by walking through theLouvre. "I think I covered every single piece there and believeme, it took some time," the now 44-year-old, British-born Mr.Levett joked over coffee recently near his vacation home here."That was really my arts education."

That was in 1997. Six years later, as his earnings exploded,Mr. Levett, like many hedge fund multimillionaires, plunged intothe art market, focusing on hand painted rare books and buyingancient Roman coins.

At that time, the young trader was still oblivious to themarket in antiquities. "One day I was ticking off my annualsubscription list for catalogs from Sotheby's, Christie's andBonhams," he remembered. "I had overlooked the antiquitiescatalogs. I just couldn't believe that I could buy an ancienthelmet, or an eight-foot-high statue or a 2,000-year-oldsarcophagus."

Driven by a new-found passion and backed by a fortuneestimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars, Mr. Levettbecame a voracious buyer, assembling one of the world's largestprivate collections of ancient arms and armor. Today, his scoresof Greek hoplite helmets, Roman greaves and shields, along withEgyptian sarcophagi, Greek statues and ancient glass, are thecrown jewels of his Musée d'art classique de Mougins, housed in aseries of medieval buildings in the heart of the small village inthe hills above Cannes.

The museum has become a surprising draw in the South ofFrance. It was the only French museum nominated for the 2013European museum of the year, and it shared the Ken d'Or 2012award for best museum with the Louvre.

Though Mr. Levett did not study art in college, he did havesome interest in the field as a youngster, growing up in Essex,England, the son of a bookmaker and a mother with a stronginterest in history.

"There happened to be a shop that sold coins at the end of ourstreet," said Mr. Levett, dressed in blue jeans and a sportshirt. "I was always fascinated by the history of the First andSecond World Wars so as a kid I built a collection of very cheapcoins and World War campaign medals."

To read the complete article, see:
Investments in Antiquities Pay Off in Museum in the South ofFrance(www.nytimes.com/2014/09/03/arts/international/investments-in-antiquities-pay-off-in-new-museum-in-the-south-of-france.html?ref=arts&_r=0)