The reason I mentioned Peter Dekker in reference to Manchu Bows is because I seem to remember that he represented Manchu Archery at a tournament a couple of years ago. I just can't remember where I saw photos of this, it may have been on his website. He was in full Qing official dress, and I also seem to remember that he placed rather well, even against the huge range of nationalities demonstrating their traditional archery there. He'd be the one to really talk to about this.

He's really helpful. I've been meaning to go back to him and get a traditional tengpai made.

Like most things, Maori weapons bought in souvenir shops tend to be the equivalent of "wall hangers". Some of them are really pretty, though. My personal preference for Maori weapons tends to go more towards the Wahaika and Taiaha (which are generally more often wooden or whale bone than stone), but those Mere and Patu, which are the flatter, symmetrical hand-axes come in some awesome jadeites and nephrites. I've seen one half sever a pig's head on a hunt before... Very impressive. Scary really...

Maori tend to be incredibly traditional people, and as a result tend not to put things like martial arts and carving techniques down on paper. They didn't have a writing system before British colonisation, you see. The best place to learn about these things is from a resident Marae expert. They love to talk about these things, and have the equivalent of books and books of knowledge most times. The Far North is a better place than Rotorua to learn about these sort of things. The tribe up there was the most warlike of all.

Continued.

94 Butterfly swords

95 Dadao

96 Tibetan sword

97 Turko Mongol sword

98/99 Thai Daab

100 Javanese Keris
- blade forged from meteoric iron

101 Aztec macuahuitl

102 Hawaiian lei o mano

103 Zulu iklwa

and thats just my list so far ;-) of course I doubt I will ever come close to this big a collection but we can all dream.

Stephen,
I was expecting anyone to post an exhaustive list like this. :) Your list is obviously very well thought out. My own list is more a set of mental notes.

While it would include dozens and dozens (and dozens) of items if all written out, the highlights of what I want would be (in order of highest to lowest priority):

Scabbards for my swords that lack them
A gladius
A falchion (Albion Vassal or, less expensive, the OlliN Last Falchion C)
Albion Castellan
Sword from the same family as the Black Prince sword (maybe even the Black Prince sword :) )
Armour

I also am curious about some of the really early firearms (aka handgonnes).

People can feel free to use this as my Christmas list if they want to buy me something. :) Ha ha....

Hey Chad, yeah it's a pretty big list alright. I've put quite a bit of thought into it over the last few years and as you can see some of the pieces are described in detail. I did this so I can read it and instantly have a mental image of the exact piece I would someday like to own. You may also notice that some of the pieces are not described at all, I mainly put these in there to round out and complete my dream collection.

My earliest re-creation is the Albion Gotland, representing swords made as early as the late 10th century. I have nothing for previous periods - no Migration sword, no Roman spatha, gladius or sica, no Celtic longsword, no falcata, no kopis, no xiphos, no khopesh or anything else from the Bronze Age. It's not that I have no interest in these periods and their weapons - and one of these days I really will buy one of Neil Burridge's excellent Bronze Age swords - but I only have a limited amount of money to spend on collecting and I'm more interested in later periods, like the 15th century. Lately I have been concentrating on 17th century military swords - English baskethilt, Walloon variations, Mortuary, etc. But one of these days I may shift my interest back to those ancient weapons.

Also missing from my collection - polearms and axes. One day I will have to get the A&A Poll-axe - the ultimate Medieval weapon.

In my first response, I was focused on my recent collecting, but then I remembered a more glaring omission in my overall collection...

As a proud son of Scotland on my father's side, I have a two-handed 'claymore' and a medieval Scottish-style sword, but no basket-hilt broadsword! I've been tempted by some entry-level models, but it seems that this is a type worth spending money to get the right one. (Better get it right the first time, or it might start a new run of very expensive collecting).