[Bob Burns]

Personally, I would find this most interesting to learn which sword is either the most important sword or the favorite sword in other fellow hobbyists collections, even if one sword is the most important sword and another sword is the
favorite sword in the collection. So it could be one sword that applies to both or it could be like in my case, too confused because I love them all, especially the Albions and Arms & Armor Swords in my collection, so I cannot choose a favorite but I can and long since have known which is my most important sword.
I would also be very interested in "why" that (hypothetical) sword is the favorite or most important sword? When it was acquired in relation to duration of having been collecting swords?
Why is it that this particular sword is the most important and or favorite sword in a person's collection.

For example and this is a good point in this post to say which is my most important sword.

Well according to my wife, I've always been a barbarian and that automatically ruled out rapiers, because they would be too civilized to suit me. LOL!

Though it's been impossible for me to select a favorite, I know beyond all doubt which is the most important sword in my collection. That being my Arms & Armor "German Bastard Sword" is indeed the most important sword to me because after spending two years of contemplating which sword best desribes who I am, physically, spiritually and mentally.

I was very attracted to the side rings that facilitate the defense means for the mechanics of the close in binding moves of the German school of longsword, which applies to me, since I was born in Germany when my dad was doing his 2 year US Army hitch after college, I was also very attracted to the writhen style of the hilt, the bottle neck grip, combined with the sheer size of this beastly, yet lively sword. In those two years I was also able to handle a lot of swords by Arms & Armor at the Bristol Faire near the IL and WI border.

What is so ironic and yet very interesting to me is the fact that the German Bastard Sword is my wife's favorite sword in my collection which consists of about 20 swords Unfortunately, I do not as of yet have a Tinker, Angus Trim, Ollin Blade or various other high end swords, which consist solely of Arms & Armor 9 + 1 rapier and Albion 2 Swords.
Another reason the German Bastard Sword is my most important sword is the fact that my first sword selection
was so important to me that it was nearly a sacred decision!
What also made it such a confusing and lengthy issue was the fact that I was and still am attracted to various differend kinds of swords, such as culture, time period, one or hand and a half swords, diverse eras in history,such as the late dark
ages, Viking era, Crusadors, mid and late medieval period. But one thing in specific that I knew, was that my interest in swords was predominantly the Western European Swords.

I am still not at all interested in selling or trading any of my swords and don't know if I ever will be, but one thing for sure, I would Never under any circumstances give up my German Bastard Sword by Arms & Armor, this sword is the next thing to sacred to me Even though I could just order another GBS in the future, no I could not do that, because it has to be
This Specific Sword!

I hope I've written a half way decent post to initiate this thread that it would attract other collectors to chime in!

CHEERS To ALL!

Bob

[Jean Thibodeau]

Favourite sword is very difficult to answer: Most of the time my most recent purchase occupies that place, for a time.

Now, if I haven't purchased a sword in a long time I sort of focus my attention to all my other ones.

Again, hard to say because I can have my favourite cutting sword or my favourite thrusting sword or my favourite twohander !

At best I could identify a high end group versus lesser swords in cost, quality, handling or aesthetics.

Some sword may be special because I designed them or other " sentimental " reasons.

I do enjoy mentally comparing each and every sword to every other sword I own: If I pick up my Tritonia after I have handled my A & A 15th century twohander it just doesn't feel heavy anymore, and if I pick up the A & A Black Prince it just floats there weightless: Going in the opposite direction makes each feel different in an opposite way.

I guess I could have made this shorter by saying that there is no favourite sword as a collector is concerned: If in "period " the sword giving me the best chance of staying alive in a fight would be my favourite i.e. the one I can use best.

[Anders Backlund]

Well, I don't have a collection yet, so I really can't have a favourite.

Knowing myself, however, I think it would probably mostly depend on my mood. Looking at the swords I would like to own, I change favourites all the time.

[William Goodwin]

That's easy...just look at my avatar.

It's my Armour Class Mortuary hilt (also listed in the review section).

Nothing else in my collection handles the way it does..period. It just seems to come alive when you pick it up.

One of my great pleasures is to watch peoples faces when they first pick it up.........and the reaction of....."Wow".

Even from my vintages pieces, this is the first sword I always go to.

I've been doing the research / data collecting / obsessing over mortuarys for a long time now, so it (Armour Class) and mortuary's in general will always flip my switch.


Cheers

Auf Wiedersehen,

Bill


edited to add photo

[Peter G.]

my fav at moment is a napoleonic luxury chasseur à cheval officers sword. Wunderful blade with original polish, 95% of bluing/gold remaining. Great silver lionhead hilt. Matching scabbard

[Bob Burns]

One of the more recent swords that I bought which was in the spring of 2007 was the Hanwei Cromwell Mortuary
Sword, but how it happened was kind of funny in a way. I had gone to Kult of Athena to look at some other swords and just to hang out and talk with Ryan for a half hour or so, feeling the need to talk to another European sword buff.
A mortuary sword was on my "To Get" list, but not that day, recently to then I had just received my copy of Steven Hand's
book "English Swordsmanship", which by the way is one Outstanding book! This book is about "The True Fight of
George Silver", so a mortuary sword was in the back of my mind.
I asked Ryan if had any new swords in stock that I would like, (he knows my taste in swords) and he promptly went and pulled the Cromwell Sword out of a display. I picked it up and it was Love at First Feel, I was totally surprised by quality in the blade and the liveliness of the sword in general and I absolutely just had to buy it right then and there.
I have a dozen high end swords "A & A" , Albion and 8 good quality midrange swords and this is where this post complies with the Thread for the most part.
Because the Hanwei Cromwell Mortuary Sword is my Favorite midrange sword, no two ways about it! I like this sword
a whole lot! It came with a false edge on the distal aspect of the spine side of the sword, which I honed into a sharp edge.
As a result of buying Stephen Hand's book and this sword, I can totally understand where William is coming from in respect to his love for the "Armour Class Mortuary Sword", because I love my mortuary sword too
Though it may not be my favorite sword in my collection, it is my favorite sword in the midrange spectrum of my collection! I was quite surprised by how much I instantly liked this Cromwell sword so much!

Anders, it is my hope that something really great will happen and your collection of swords will start very soon! Please let us know when you get your first sword, I know I would certainly like to hear about it!
Peter, I can certainly see why this is your favorite sword, it's absolutely magnificent

One Very Grateful Person for the Discovery of My Love for this Hobby Finally Discovered in my mid forties! Thank Goodness for David Peck at the Arms & Armor Booth at the Bristol Faire, that this did not escape me and pass me by!

Sincerely!

Bob

[Matthew G.M. Korenkiewicz]

What's interesting for me is that I remain confident that I'm not incredibly attached
to any one item in my collection. Because of limitted space I do my best to keep the
number of swords I have around 12, with a buffer zone of 2 or 3. If there is something
I wish to add to the group, I have the line-up arranged so I can choose which to try and
sell to compensate for the spending. Sometimes its just a change in taste that will
dictate regrouping the line-up.

If I can ever get a Polish Hussar Saber made, and made the way I see it in my skull-
pan, that will be a difficult item to part with. Or, when I finally decide to chase down a
custom-made Japanese Style Blade, I know that I will spend time designing the
fittings, choosing a color scheme, etc, and that too will be difficult to part with ...

Currently, my Yukiyasu Japanese Style Blade would be the absolutely last sword I
would sell.


The blade is production-level, but a great gentleman, craftsman, and friend took it
and did a complete mount. We designed the fittings, etc. Everything he worked on
was hand-made. So it represents more than just a sword or project to me ....

[Chase S-R]

my favorite sword is my very first sword
a fantasy wall-hanger that cost me $19.95 and i bought when i was 11 it is my favorite because it was my first "real" (metal) sword,
my other favorites include my original seax from circa 900 a.d. my original small sword from circa 1700 which was a gift from a former baby sitter and my A&A custom one-hander with an ocagonal pommel. My seax i bought at the WMAW.

[Glen A Cleeton]

I have to agree with the BP and GBS as being quite nice. Two very different swords but both winners.

Here is one of the better shots of a GBS I have ever seen. I believe it was taken by a fellow named Claudio, not heard from lately.

I have fairly sated my appetite for reproductions and had been trying to focus on older swords for years. The past year or so has seen three spadroons find a home here. The last is is a real treat. because It was bargain priced.



It has become a recent favorite and I was gratefully amazed when Jonathan Hopkins came up with some pages from an old auction catalog showing a couple of quite similar hilts with descriptions.




Somehow i'll always have a soft spot for an ATrim from about 2000. This was the old light build XIIIa. it still remains my favorite for unpegged tatami stumps but a later XIIa is becoming more familiar. I'm really liking spadroons though. they don't take up a lot of room and come in a great many forms. Although not on my list at the moment, this one is a favorite peculiar hilt picture.


There are too many I like to say "there can be only one" but I have said the BP would be one hard to leave behind or let go (although easily replacable).

Cheers

GC

[Jonathan Hopkins]

It is hard to choose a favorite, but there are a number of swords I will probably never sell. One of my most nostalgic swords is, naturally, my first sword. I bought it when I was 14 and on holiday in the UK with my family. The armory in Warwick Castle showed me that a European sword did not just mean a knightly cruciform sword. Shortly after visiting the castle and while still in Warwick, I came upon a nice and inexpensive British Pattern 1796 Infantry Officer's Sword. It is the sword that began it all for me.




My hardest-won sword is my c.1740-1750 English basket-hilted dragoon sword. As a high school student I saved for nearly a year in order afford a basket hilt. I bought this one on another holiday in the UK from the now out-of-business Peter Dale Ltd. I doubt I could afford it now with the high prices basket hilts are now fetching.

[Bennison N]

My most important sword is my Dotanuki. Rather plain in appearance, but very powerful. It really does seem to be able to cut most things with a single swing. I bought it, despite it's lack of beauty, due to a story I had heard in Japan that a Samurai in full armour could be chopped in half by a single strike from a Dotanuki blade. So far I haven't chopped any Samurai, and indeed I don't intend to in the near future, but the sword really does seem capable, judging from test cuts I have performed in my back yard,.It becomes the most important by adding incredible power to my practised techniques.

I don't, however, have a favourite. My swords are all of Asian design (the exceptions being my foils, and an old Marine Corps Mameluke), and merely supplement my technique practise, rather than providing some satisfying feeling of ownership. I would like to "bond", shall we say, with my swords, as other swordsmen do. They are, after all, an extension of my arms and the object of my deepest obsession. As a result, I have recently placed orders for two fine Kopises, a Han Dynasty Jian and a very beautiful functional replica of Gou Jian's sword to be custom made by very good smithies. I am having the Chinese swords made because they are my speciality now, and I have always put off buying top quality ones (I have always done very well with wood). I do very much think, though, that the Kopises will eventually become my solid favourites, as I recently decided to adopt them as my speciality from now on.

I have found it hard to find any comprehensive texts or illustrations of their use, other than a swift downwards strike from over the shoulder (shown in countless ancient illustrations), as a Hoplite would have done from behind his shield. This downwards strike seems to be the central technique for the use of a Kopis.

[Joe Fults]

Constantly changing.

If I had real pieces, not just replicas, I might have a central item.

Perhaps at the moment the most important piece is my A&A poleaxe?

[Steve Grisetti]

The most important sword in my collection is an easy choice for me. That would be my European Hanger, made by Vince Evans.

This was the piece that Vince submitted for the Masters of Fire Exhibition at Macao Museum of Art in 2006.

As for the favorite piece in my collection, that tends to vary from day to day. There is something that I find special about each of them.

[D Critchley]

[Dan Dickinson]

Well, I love them all so it's hard to come up with a favorite. However, I suppose if we start talking about the last one to go , then it would come down to two swords.
The first would have to be because of the difficulty in replacing it. It's the custom Jason Dingledine type XVI in my Avatar (and that has been reviewed on the site).
The second would be because of sentimental value....it's not as well balanced or made as most of the swords in my collection. However, because it was my first sword, my custom Del Tin type X will never leave my collection ( or I suppose if I start to starve it will be the last to go
Dan

[Chad Arnow]

Interesting question. My collection is ever-evolving, so the most important sword is probably the next one (whatever that may be). I'm not sure there is any item in my collection that's immune to being sold of the conditions are right. I'm more into a harmonious collection of items I love than a simple accumulation of a large number of things I like.

I keep a limit on my collection, so things need to move out when other things move in. While I love everything I currently own, they all could go if it meant getting something I'd love more. For perspective, 57 items have been part of my collection, but my current collection numbers 16 items. There's been a lot of movement in the collection in the 12 years I've been collecting.

Unlike some people, my collection didn't start with high-end stuff. I started out with Depeeka-like items, then moved up to Philippine-made CASI stuff, then Windlass stuff, Del Tin, A&A, and Albion and more. So, the lower end items I was happy to get rid of when I could afford better things.

As for my favorite sword, that would either be my Albion Sovereign or my Sempach. Those are the ones I'd sell last. The rest of my swords aren't far behind.

[Michael Edelson]

No doubt about it...the Brescia Sapdona (the one just to the left of the poleaxe).



I could go on and on and on and on about how wonderful this sword is, but my fingers would fall off.

My second favorite is the one just to the right of the poleaxe...

[Ed Toton]

Like others here, often my favorite is the most recent. This isn't just because of the novelty, but also because my tastes and my spending habits have been gradually ratcheting up.

For most of 2007 my key piece would have been the Albion Talhoffer, as it was my first Albion, and first "real" sword (amongst my sharps anyway) that wasn't a cheaper CAS-Iberia, Windlass, Cold Steel, or Knight's Edge piece. But towards the end of the year I received two others that are taking the spotlight for me currently. The Albion Landgraf, and a unique CF/AT sword which was reviewed here (I'm the fourth owner).

I've been trying to rid myself of some of my older items as well, but very slowly, and a lot of them I'm keeping for one reason or another... for instance, I have interesting examples of the various renaissance-faire sword-makers. At the moment my collection consists of 41 swords (blunts, sharps, wall-hangers), not including pole arms, maces, daggers, and various other miscellaneous items.

[Christopher Gregg]

It is hard to say what my favorite sword is, since out of my 40-odd swords I have a few really nice pieces. So... if I had to choose today, I suppose I would say my favorite sword would be either my Mad Piper SW1 Walter Allen Basket hilt or my Old Dominion Forge Clamshell cutlass. My most important sword is undoubtedly my Jake Powning anthropomorphic hilt LaTene Celtic short sword (one of a kind, like Jake himself!).

Like so many others have said, I guess the next sword I come into might supplant these as a favorite, but it would probably simply join them as another "one of my favs".

[Sean Flynt]

My English hanger, by E. B. Erickson.

http://www.myArmoury.com/review_ebe_hanger.html

It's the most historically accurate piece in my collection, based on a documented original, beautiful all over, signed and dated. It represents my interest in colonial-era workaday arms and armour. I'd say it's important not just to me but also in a general sense simply because it is (or was) a one-of-a-kind reproduction/reconstruction of a specific historical weapon.

On a more personal level, it's important to me because I feel it was made for me--Eljay planned to make it anyway but offered it to me for a "test drive". I planned to buy it from the first contact, and stretched more for it financially than for any other piece in my collection. That sounds funny now, considering that it was only $450, a fraction of what one would expect from any other custom cutler. But that's a huge budget for me, they guy who tries to make a full gothic harness from cat food cans and string That even I would buy a new, custom piece is testament to Eljay's brilliance.