[J.D. Crawford]

Yes, there's definitely something very personal and almost indefinable about it. For me that separates objects that I find interesting and appealing to collect, like helms for example, from swords, which are a downright obsession. For many of us modern life is full of so many abstract frustrating problems that one must deal with in very indirect ways. When I go home and hold a favorite sword in my hand, or even just look at one, somehow I just feel better. It's not that I have any inclination of 'going postal'; it has more to do with that primal symbolism that some of you have mentioned. Like: 'Now I am ready to face the Grendels of my life'. My wife does not get it, but she finds it amusing and tolerates it. -JD

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Harry J. Fletcher]

Thank GOD this thread has taken a different direction from the starving third world millions slaving to make our swords in their hell hole sweat shops! But frankly, we are not responsible for these conditions since we do not govern these countries which is a good thing. In any case we would not purchase or keep the shoddy junk produced in such sweat shops!

Just for the record, my last sword was a Hanwei Shinto Elite, and the one before that was an Albion Reeve. Poor starving fellas in Wisconsin sweating and slaving in their hell hole sweat shop just so I can have my Albion Reeve. As for Hanwei, their employees have a very good wage scale and high living standard at least since the last time Paul Chen addressed the issue.

...and now back to art appreciation...a worthy subject since it involves swords!!!!!

[Evan Jones]

Well, I've read and agreed with pretty much everything everyone's said, but I feel compelled to chip in my two cents.I feel that the reason I collect all this kind of stuff is for multiple reasons, so I'll kinda divvy this up into a few (hopefully small) sections.

Specifically concerning swords: I think it's because I see the sword as a symbol of Good. I've always liked medieval arms and armor, but the sword holds a special place, you know? Whenever I see it used by a bad-guy in a film, it looks just like what it physically is, a tool for killing. But when I see the hero wield his "magnificent blade", it's like he's representing and defending goodness and truth, and all of that stuff that makes the hopeless romantic in all of us sword dorks swoon. I'm consistently told by my friends that I'm the most morally driven person they know, and that I can be counted on more than anyone else to do what is "right". I guess I'm drawn to buy swords because they're a physical manifestation of my inner self, who I can't really get to be in this extremely restrictive modern day and age.

Secondly, I have to agree with the whole "survivalist" explanation as well. We like all of these historic artifacts because we sense that they still hold a level of usefulness that shouldn't be forgotten. Though I'm only 20, and a suburbanite, I distinctly remember having a more low-tech upbringing than everybody else in the neighborhood. I didn't really watch much tv (at first), preferring to play around with my toys OUTSIDE LIKE A YOUNG BOY OUGHT TO. We didn't get a computer until I was 9, we didn't get a dvd player until I was 15 (Yeah, most of my favorite movies used to be on VHS). I can especially remember my dad putting on his old Vinyl records at christmas time. I especially smile whenever I remember myself at age ten and my brother at age seven finishing shovelling the whole driveway by ourselves (btw, I live in Michigan, and this was in the 90's when a Michigan Winter was still a Michigan Winter), then putting the shovels back in the garage, only to see our athletic 30-something neighbor sheepishly pull out his snowblower( and if the lazy sonufagun had gotten outside when WE did, he'd have seen our EIGHTY-something year old neighbor finish shovelling his driveway.LOL...) I remember my dad putting my brother and I to work in the yard, mostly pulling bushes and cutting sod, stuff like "never mind the fact that you're eight, take this dull spade and cut through that 4" taproot right there". Cute stories aside, the point is that we see a reliance on machines and even more advanced technologies as a crutch, and if you don't need a crutch, why should you use it? I have every intention of learning to shave with a straight-razor, learning the art of stellar navigation like Dave mentioned (SUCH A COOL AND PRACTICAL IDEA) I'll grow as many of my own foods as I can, hunt every now and again, and in general limit how much I rely on technology and industry. While admittedly swords and chainmail are a far cry from farming tools, they still show that there's an interest present. We just prefer these things because they at least link us to feeling like we're capable of surviving without something that runs on an electrical charge.

Thirdly, being of entirely European descent, some of it only second-generation American, I like looking at and holding all of this SUPER COOL STUFF that MY OWN ancestors very well may have used. I like to wonder if I had a Danish viking ancestor, or if there's blood in my veins from a Welsh longbowman who was at Agincourt, or a German gothic knight. Even if it's ultimately untrue, these fantasies provide a more tangible link to my heritage.

Anyway, those are my thoughts.

[Colt Reeves]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that your sword in that picture there Kirk? I saw it in a thread a day or two ago. Is it actually featured in the book you reference?

Heh, see what you did David, you turned this thread into a "back-in-my-day" fest. Here're some comments on Evan's post:
My family was always thought of as weird because we didn't get a TV antenna till I was 17 or so, and then we never used it because we were out in the country and couldn't get much aside from static. Watched mostly some VHS Star Trek episodes growing up. Concerning computers again, it was also at 17 when I discovered the internet (largely because we got high speed and I started taking distance education college courses). It wasn't much before that that we got our first DVD player, but it was part of the computer package. Only in the last couple of years have we gotten any dedicated DVD players you hook up to a TV. Never had a snowblower, why do you think my parents had kids in the first place?

Kind of funny how I hated work so much when I were little, but now I look back and find some sort of joy and glory in it. Maybe it is that it seems so simple and straightforward, I'm in control and understand what I am doing and can feel it in my hands... That's part of why the sword/weapons thing, I can grasp it and feel it move, the heft of the thing. You can't get that in a video game. (That's another thing, I cannot understand people who just love swords'n'sorcery RPG/video games but don't have any desire to learn anything about it in real life. That's like being interested in football but just watching it and not playing it... Ok, bad example. )

[Vincent Le Chevalier]

[Harry J. Fletcher]

Here in the United States I pay the same for a shirt produced in a third world country as I would for a shirt that used to be made in the U.S.A. which is about $50.00 at Dillards. Many jobs in the U.S. have gone overseas but the savings in buying goods produced in these countries have not been passed along to the American consumer.

It is the greed of the corporate managers which really reap the benefits of the huge profits being made while the stockholders realize shrinking dividends. The American worker finds himself displaced and able to buy less and less as American shores are flooded with goods produced overseas in third world countries.

I came of age in a world with a population of 2 billion people. Now there are over 6 billion people. The United States is being flooded with third world economic refugees mainly from Mexico to the point where the national culture is rapidly becoming Latin. We of European heritage are becoming submerged in a third world surge of overpopulation. This is the cause of global warming, resource depletion, animal extinction, rapid transmission of new diseases, and the lowering of the quality of life for everyone here on Earth.

Third world cultual mores result in high birth rates and deplete natural resources. With high populations these countries have no choice but to turn to labor intensive industries.

I suggest you put the blame squarely where it belongs, on the third world itself. In the United states we have a population of approximately 250 million with about 50 to 60 million of that due to inmigration from third world countries. If the richer nations of the world continue to subsidize the poorer nations then the result will be mass starvation for everyone on an unimaginable scale.

I would rather pay $600 to $1000 plus for a sword made in the United States by a firm like Albion than a sword made in China by a firm like Hanwei. Wilkinson Sword a few years back made survival knives for the SAS and I have one. They were Cutlers to the Queen as mine is marked. Now they are defunct and a firm in India manufactures knives and bayonets for the British military. I agree with Herber Spencer, put up trade barriers to the third world, let them starve or solve their problems.

[Michael Edelson]

[Kirk Lee Spencer]

[Harry J. Fletcher]

Micahel, if I understand you correctly you are saying that WE are CULTURALLY SUPPERIOR to these poor third world nations and although we have manipulated them out of CORPORATE GREED for our own gain we must continue to do so for the good of the UNITED STATES?

Makes me wonder who is the more callous of the two of us. I advocate forcing the third world to embrace birth control and responsibility as well as protection for the American worker and consumer. You advocate continued exploitation because now it has been done it cannot be undone and so it must be continued.

[Michael Edelson]

[Maurizio D'Angelo]

For a long time the Western economy was strong. Is now in decline.
Our economy is no longer a real economy. Too much creative financing, the decline is structural.
Perhaps we delude ourselves to be still strong ... the real money is no longer in our coffers ... England is the first victim ...
I hope that will not violate any rule.
Ciao
Maurizio

[G Ezell]

My best friend back in elementary school's father had a modest collection of swords on display at his house, mostly fraternal swords, but also a very nice dao and a few Japanese pieces. The first time he let me handle them, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up....

Unfortunately, the knight gig never panned out, so I started making knives. Still working my way up to a proper sword.

[Chad Arnow]

I think socio-political discussions are best left to forums that special in them (and this isn't one of those).

[Lin Robinson]

My interest in antique weapons goes back 42 years, when I was a senior in college. As a youngster I had always had an interest in the War Between the States, or as we referred to it in the South, “The War of Northern Aggression”. As I grew up that interest waned, but was rekindled by a trip to the Williamsburg, VA area over Christmas of 1967, where I saw up close, for the first time, a number of firearms from the era. This interest was boosted by the fact that I am a direct or collateral descendant of ten Confederate soldiers and I suppose that was the real reason for my fascination with the War. A short time later I discovered Dixie Gun Works, which was selling replicas of these same firearms and bought a cap and ball revolver, my first firearms purchase, which I still have. During my military service I spent two years in Great Falls, MT, where I was exposed to artifacts from the early exploration of the West, including guns. When I came home and entered the business world, my first job was in Halifax County, NC, the home of a restored Revolutionary War town and one of the centers of the subsequent Bi-Centennial. I now live within a few miles of the sites of the Battle of Kings Mountain and the Battle of Cowpens. This exposure got me into Rev War reenacting although I am too old and creaky to sleep on the ground in a cold tent any more. Through genealogical research I was able to find out more about my Scottish roots and became active in Highland games and clan society activities, which required – to my way of thinking – the ownership of lots of sharp, pointy things. All this led to an admittedly limited study of edged and other types of medieval weaponry.

I guess my point is that I am influenced mainly by history and genealogy, which makes me want to acquire replica or real artifacts of my ancestors. And, since we all have ancestors going back to Adam & Eve, or we would not be here today, I suspect that inside that may be the motivation that drives us all. It may not be readily apparent but I believe it is there. At any rate, it is an expensive motivation. I now own ten swords, several dirks, bayonets, two targes and 43 firearms of all types and from all eras. And I am not through acquiring.

And that is why I buy this stuff.

[Chad Arnow]

[Maurizio D'Angelo]

a curious reason:
for the degree of his son, a friend of mine gave to him:
1 antique and original book,
1 real and historical sword.

I asked if her son loved the historical fencing. He replied, no. Are only symbols of what I taught him, the importance of knowledge, honor and justice.
They book and the sword has cost nearly 1100 euros.
These symbols must be true, a sword from 50 euros, it was not true.
Nice, I liked this motivation .
Ciao
Maurizio

[Harry J. Fletcher]

[Maurizio D'Angelo]

personally, this book is already in my collection,
if I had not, I find a good service on this forum.
my post above, outside the rules. I apologize.
ciao
Maurizio