[Tyler C.]

Hi All,

Something I have been wondering for some time is if this hobby is gaining followers, or losing them. I find it hard to get a sense of the big picture from my viewpoint. It seems that sword makers are busy, and antiques and good reproductions are holding their value, but I have also heard from some vendors who claim that business is slowing a little in recent years. Does anyone have an idea or indication of the current trajectory?

[Edward Lee]

Sword enthusiasts will keep on collecting or hold on to their collection, while part timers might stop entirely or even sell off the collection. However if theres need for money people will sell whatever to keep themselves afloat, that includes collection pieces. As the current epidemic goes money is always going to be the priority over collection hobbies.

As for good reproduction holding their value, I would say prepare to lose at least half of the original money you put in if you are going to resell it.

[Tyler C.]

I should have clarified when I originally posted, but I am thinking on a a broader scale than the current crisis. I'm sure that the impacts of COVID will play a role so it's a valid addition to the topic, but I had something like the last 5-10 years in mind and potentially projecting to the years ahead.

[Houston P.]

I may not be the best to comment on this since I have only been doing this for about 6 years, but it seems to me that interest in European arms and armor were increasing in every way. While a few makers have disappeared, many have significant waiting lists due to demand. More and more companies, Ronin Katana for example, are branching out into European weapons and the quality available at sub-$500 has improved. YouTube channels for sword reviews or HEMA have popped up in far greater numbers. HEMA equipment is definitely more readily available, and there are more HEMA clubs around than when I started. Games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance were very well received. Overall, it seems to me that people are more interested than ever in European arms and armor.

[Edward Lee]

The way I see it is that the current European Arms and Armor trend is gaining followers steadily. However there is a difference between interest and actual collecting. In the gaming community there are many who are interested but either cannot afford or don't want to own medieval arms but simply admire. I've spoken to some number of people and the types I got were people who bought swords for collection, and some were interested in HEMA. And then you have people who are interested but did not want to make purchase of a $500-$1000 sword because it was too expensive and they saw no real world application to them.

All that being said most people I spoke to were from the gaming community, and if you ask most of them how much they think a sword would cost, the answer would most likely be somewhere below $300 dollars, because the price is being compared to modern knives. This also brings up the problem that if the curent events in China goes south, brands like Hanwei, Ronin, Dynasty forge etc may become harder to get due to import difficulty(my 2 cents).

[William M]

Depends on the country.

I think here in the UK all sword collecting is massively on the decline due to the punative laws we now have. For example "samurai sword" is a banned item and now swords in general cannot be shipped and all sharp items now must be sent to business addresses.

As if anybody would buy a sword and have it shipped to their place of work!

[Chad Arnow]

That's hard to say in general. A number of makers are still running long waiting lists, which indicates some demand. Companies are expanding their lineups, some into higher price ranges. I'd say, as with most things, it varies with locale and economic factors. Obviously, over the last couple of months, I'd expect sales/purchases to be down as many people were out of work or facing financial uncertainties of varying degrees.

I'd say interest may be high, but purchases could be different. Look at the number of views and subscribers for Skallagrim, ScholaGladiatoria, Tod's Workshop, etc. on YouTube. There's interest for sure. Whether that translates into sales? Who knows.

[Tyler C.]

[William P]