Today I have passed the 30,000 mark of uploaded photos to my Flickr album ‘Arms and Armour’. The album shows collections of over 130 museums, as well as museum storages and special exhibitions of arms and armour. I still have to upload another 2,500. So in the not too distant future I hope to pass the 32,500 mark.

The photographic database is meant for my personal study. But I gladly make it available for viewing to historians, collectors, re-enactors and modern sword smiths.

Especially collectors are encouraged to view and closely study the museum’s collections as there is a multitude of falsifications and bad composites on the market. In fact, I always recommend not to buy any piece without a sound provenance. Even a provenance to an ‘old collection’ might not be good enough. During the Victorian age (or the so called Historismus period) the demand for antique arms and armour was so high that many replicas were produced and offered for sale. Today private collectors are also lured into buying pieces that are very cleverly aged but in reality are no more than a few years old.

Also beware of auctions. Auction houses in the past, as well as those of today, want to make profit. Therefore there is no guarantee that their descriptions will be 100% accurate. You need to see and judge it for yourself or else hire an expert. And do check if you are allowed to return a lot should it turn out to be not as described.

My photograpic album can be visited at http://www.flickr.com/photos/98015679@N04/sets/
It is part of my web page http://www.astronet.nl/armsandarmour

Carl Koppeschaar

Welcome aboard Carl

That is an immense and amazing collection of images and resources you are compiling , and sharing..

Thanks so much for posting the links!

Cheers

GC

Although I was aware of your albums through the AAF, I took the liberty of cross-posting this in its entirety on the Historical Research Board at Armour Archive as well. You need more viewers, sir. Thank you for sharing this, and reminding us all of the excellent resource which you have provided.

Thanks a lot for your work!

I dare to ask: what is this thing?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/98015679@N04/20921466468/in/album-72157658081333642/

Wow, what a tremendous resource. Thank you. There goes what remains of my spare time...

Quote:

I dare to ask: what is this thing? https://www.flickr.com/photos/98015679@N04/20921466468/in/album-72157658081333642/

A strange sword! The caption in an earlier picture says:
"Very rare 'telescoping' sword that can be prolonged from one-hand length, from horseback, to two hand length, for defensive fighting on foot. Nationality uncertain, probably Germany (Nuremburg?), perhaps Italian (Brescia? Milan?) 1570-1630."

Quite a unique piece, would be interesting to feel the balance and weight for sure.

Carl has put together one of the single best resources available to the arms and armour community. What a stellar resource! Thank you for coming here and introducing it to the members of this site.

Cheers

One of the absolute best resources to use for looking at details and seeing collections. I have been following Carl's efforts for several years and he does an exceptional job of taking informative shots that can teach one about the object in ways that a straight view will not.

Thank you for the tremendous effort you have put into this collection. It has truly been one of the best things about the net ever :-)

Craig

I've been using your resource to study the subject for years now, I just wanted to thank you for the time and effort. It's truly an amazing collection of photographs. Glad to see you on the forum.

What an amazing resource. Carl, thank you for your time and effort spent on this.

I have been regularly looking through Carl's albums for some time now, and always find something new and strange or exciting in photos that I have looked at many times before. The collection is invaluable--thank you sir!

Carl, many thanks for your website and wonderful museum oriented photo album collection. Your website has been extremely helpful for arms & armor museum travel planning (even navigating by automobile!) and your photo albums are a great resource.

A big thanks from Me too Carl, you are very lucky to have made these trips and thanks so much for sharing!

Griff

Let me add my thanks...Carl, your photos have been an invaluable resource, and a tremendous help in expanding my understanding of the range and depth of medieval craftsmanship. Even for museums I've visited in person and photographed myself, its wonderful to be able to see them again through the eye of your excellent camera work. I very much appreciate your attention to detail, and your amazing and exhaustive coverage!

thanks,
Jesse

Here is some kind of strange weapon I encountered but now kept at the Vasa museum in Stockholm, the Swedish capital:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/98015679@N04/9420398455/in/album-72157634902660150/