I admit to being pretty new to sword collecting, spurred on by a research programme I’ve been pursuing for the past couple of years (on and off). At the beginning of this year I was lucky enough to be in a position to invest in some new toys, all in the interests of research of course. My first purchase were a pair or Hanwei Tinker Longsword replacement blades (one sharp, one blunt) on which I’ve been experimenting with different pommel masses, but I also had the funds for something custom.
Having looked in all the usual places, and deciding that I wanted to go the forged rather than stock removal route, I settled on commissioning two pieces with Mateusz Sulowski, a Type XVIa because I have another sword of this type and wanted to be able to make a comparison, and a Type XIV, mostly because I wanted an arming sword, saw some of Mateusz’s other examples of this type and was just struck by how great they looked.
So, at the end of January I contacted Mateusz and we started talking about the commission, which he said would take 5 months to complete. I opted for swords only (no scabbards/leatherwork) as that meant I could afford two pieces.
Having exchanged messages about the general type/form of the swords, it was pretty quiet for a couple of months before Mateusz started sending work-in-progress pictures and then we talked specific guard and pommel styles before the work was completed a couple of weeks earlier than the original 5 month estimate.
I've attached some un-boxing photos:
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As you can see, they were very well protected in a wooden transit crate with lots of foam packing to prevent movement en route. I got two t-shirts as well so I’m now a walking advert for Mateusz … hmm, I must talk to him about that?!
I'm hoping to review each in more detail over the next week or two but regarding initial impressions, lets just say I'm impressed. These are in a price bracket and league different to my other (albeit limited) stuff and i need a bit of time to take a really close look and provide an objective review, but lets just say that every time I pick one of them up it brings a smile to my face!
What I can honestly say at this point is that dealing with Mateusz has been an absolute pleasure – his English is very good, he responds to messages very quickly (often within 1-2 hours), he’s helpful, knowledgeable, and I get the impression he enjoys his work and is going to just get better and better.
More to follow ...
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