[Connor Ruebusch]

[Scott Woodruff]

Interesting question. I tend to agree with most of the posters in that I am less interested in E asian weapons and anything that is more decorative/ritual/fantasy as opposed to a serious weapon. Also, I do get bored with same-old same-old stuff everyone is into. Right now that includes Japanese swords, Scottish stuff and anything with a wheel pommel. My sister jokes that I have no real preferences when it comes to weapons. Whatever I am learning about becomes interesting, rather than learning about what I find interesting.

Right now I am really into Scandinavian weapons from the Bronze Age to the Rennaisance. That seems to be an area that I am repeatedly drawn back to. I have mixed feelings about Viking swords, some are very beautiful, some are quite ugly. Though I have recently been concentrating on Viking-style sword-play, I have a preference for hand-and-a-half/bastard swords.

Often aesthetics and functionality are in conflict, especially when it comes to earlier weapons. I LOVE the looks of swords from Nydam and other early Romano-Germanic swords, but I wouldn't want to be stuck with one in a fight (pun unintentional The lack of a developed guard and blade-heavy balance make these beautiful weapons seem rather weak in the function department. Perhaps (probably) my feelings will change as I learn more about the use of these weapons.

Overall, I am incapable of maintaining a preference for very long, as my interests are constantly changing as I learn more and more. This can make it really difficult to do reenactment, as by the time I get one kit together, I have gotten distracted and want to do something else. One year I can be found with a cowboy hat on my head, a handle-bar mustache and a 1863 Remington New Model Army on my hip, the next year I am practicing Pollaxe in hose and doublet, then on to WWII Russian sniper get-up, now a Viking. I am so glad I live in a place where I can walk around with just about any weapon I want on my person without attracting trouble.

I have to agree with Jeremy in that I really dont like the looks of falcatas and kukris, whatever their functionality. Maybe because my first "sword" when I was a wee lad was a cheap kukri that was a real piece of junk. I wonder if the forward cuved blade really makes any difference in cutting power? I much prefer the Germanic war-knives, similar concept but without the curve. I hope my rambling mostly stayed on-topic, I am sick now and havn't slept in a couple days.

[Nathan Robinson]

[Craig Peters]

You know, there's a significant category of weapons that have been marginalized and excluded from our discussion, and this reflects, in part, the tendency for historiography to largely leave it out these cultures and generally exclude them.

What about the weapons and armour of indigenous peoples throughout the planet?

[Gottfried P. Doerler]

principally i like all kinds of swords, at the moment i`ve a hard time deciding between something 18th cent. swedish style or something ancient greece (kopis/xiphos..)

the only period swords i dislike are smallswords, dressswords etc...... i heard there were even ones with grips of painted porcelain.....
and everything intended for mere decoration purposes, like some napoleonic weapons eg. the ecole de mars cadet sword (which should look somehow roman or classical??), or sabers with cock (gallic cock) or eagle-head pommels.

i`ve always the feeling these are kind of toy-weapons and i want something "real".

as for indigenous weapons - there are some interesting examples like the sudanese kaskara (the average guy will surely think these are crusader swords at first sight)

[Lin Robinson]

I am not particularly interested in Asian weapons although I can appreciate the craftsmanship which goes into the making of a katana. I might even like to own one some day but right now I will concentrate on Scottish weaponry. I also have little interest in plate armor and should I ever acquire armor, which I doubt I will at my advanced age, it would be maile instead of plate. While I find most historical weaponry - outside my own passion for Scottish and early medieval stuff - interesting, I have absolutely no use for fantasy blades and armor. I guess because it isn't historical and usually not based on anything historical.

As for the earlier comments about Scotland, the origin of most of my family on my father's side, I think it is a very interesting place historically, beautiful in terms of scenery and populated with some very nice and interesting people. Have been there twice, hope to return soon.

Happy New Year.

[Timo Nieminen]

[Sam Gordon Campbell]

Well, I think Timo about summed up my thoughts in greater detail.

[Tim Lison]

Good post! I agree with so many of the posts that have been made. Collecting Arms & Armor is such a niche hobby to begin with, it's kinda funny how we all seem to carve out our spot of interest and stick to it. I have numerous swords that are similar but for some reason I want more...even with the huge variety of other weapons I could choose from. For me, it's 9th-12th century European swords. Anything else might fascinate me, but hasn't been able to truly "speak" to me like those weapons have. Maybe I'm just a touch obsesssive...

[Sean O Stevens]

I'm one of those people (for real) that's interested in pretty much all arms and armor from all places on this earth and all time frames. I've just always been fascinated by the warrior culture... in all its many varied forms. Given enough money and time... I would likely have representative pieces from all regions and time periods.

That said, everyone has preferences and I'm no different.

I don't think I'll ever be much of a modern/firearms collector. I see them much more as tools... even tho there are some very interesting warrior traditions that involve firearms... I've just always been uncomfortable with them. I'm working on overcoming that... I intend to acquire and train with 2 maybe 3 guns in the near future. However, I don't ever forsee me having the love or interest in them that I have for more historical weapons.

I've never been to interested in Russian swords and weapons... not really sure why.

The indigenous peoples of South America have never captured my interest... nor have their weapons. This holds mostly true for Africa as well.

[Josh Warren]

While I echo the sentiment expressed by many here regarding having a distaste for far Eastern arms and armour (and especially Japanese stuff), I cannot agree with the prevailing attitude towards plate armour. For me, all other armour pales in comparison to a well-executed, custom-fitted full plate harness in quality steel made by a master of the armourer's craft--a symphony in steel, the very pinnacle of war-gear, reaching a degree of sophistication unmatched in my estimation by any other arm, offensive or defensive. The lesser stuff is just uninteresting to me; give me plate over the rest any day.

I also have difficulty comprehending the attraction to Scottish weapons; that culture and its history just . As others have said, it's too "niche-y" to attract me. Maybe one has to have Scottish ancestry in order to truly "get it."

[R D Moore]

[Jean Thibodeau]

I think it's important to focus on the fact that most of us have certain favourite periods and places of interest and others that leave us relatively indifferent and this Topic is about talking about the arms that leave us personally cold or at least little enthused: What we should avoid is lacking respect for other peoples interests or being negative about it.

As an example I don't collect stamps or Barby dolls or beer bottles but as a collector I can understand the passion if not share the object of the passion of others.

I can say that all arms and military history has always been my passion and I find it all interesting but don't focus on collecting it all. I could include in this a strong interest in the design of castles and fortifications and I also find ships from galley to WW! and WW!! battleships very interesting, less so modern warships.

19th Century Ironclads, late 19th Century/Early 20th Century battleships, battlecruisers, armoured cruisers etc ..... are also a passion where that I indulge by buying books: The maintenance costs of a Yamato Class battleship, if one even existed, would be a little much and having 3 or 4 battleships would crowd my bathtub a bit I think. ( Oh, getting a permit for the 18" shells would be difficult. )

On a Sci-Fi. unobtanium scale I wouldn't say owning a fully functioning Galaxy Class Starship. O.K. showing my " NERDINESS " in all it's glory.

[Dustin Faulkner]

I just wish someone would make an affordable German two-hander (zweihander) with flukes and an authentic weight. I like one at the Higgins whose accession number is 2743. Surely there's a way to make one in the lower price range like Hanwei's Lowlander or Claymore.

I admit I am more concerned with an authentic appearance rather than physical characteristics. Those zweihanders just look cool! I know Cold Steel makes one, but it just doesn't look right.

[Michael R. Black]

For me, I tend not to like modern tactical or fantasy stuff. Cant really see myself buying either in the near future.

[Thomas R.]

I dislike burgonets. They look to me like an unholy cross-breed of a baseballcap and a roman helmet. In it's time it may have been a good helmet, offering protection for small money. But I just don't like it's design. So I won't ever get me one. The rest about the Landsknecht-era, I like very much: slashed clothings, the twohanders, katzbalgers and so on.

Thomas

[David Wilson]

I tend to limit myself to cultures/eras I am particularly interested, mainly for some very practical reasons. These include:

1. Money
2. Space
3. Time

Okay, mainly #1. Let's face it; if we did not limit ourselves, we'd go broke real quick, now wouldn't we?
That being said, is there anything that does not interest me? Well, there are some things that do interest me quite a bit, but which I choose to avoid primarily for the above listed reasons. I'd love to get into Schiavonas, Katzbalgers, Shamshirs, and Kilijs. Since the question of indigenous weapons was mentioned, I'd like to get into the weapons of the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest (since that is also a part of my personal heritage), as well as the weapons of meso-America, especially the macahuitl.
Is there anything that does not interest me? Not really. I'd even like to get into Japanese swords, eventually -- well, at least one katana, make that a complete daisho.... sure I think they're over-hyped, but that does not invalidate them, just places them further back on the burner. And so it goes with several other weapons. Armour, too; I don't have much. Would love to have a lot more.

Basically, just because I do not collect or have no plans to collect an item in the near future, does not mean I am not currently or potentially interested. I'm not saying this to be "politically correct", I'm saying it because I wish to have money left over for things like food, shelter, clothing (real clothing, not historical garb)....

[J.D. Crawford]

I'm not much into weapons that are highly decorated.

For me, the beauty or most originals arises from from and function. I could spend hours (and do) just looking at the lines, curves, and proportions of ancient weapons and trying to understand why they were made that way. But usually decorations add nothing for me personally, and too many decorations start to detract from the raw beauty.

It's not a hard and fast rule. For example, I like certain religious invocations and other symbols that clearly had meaning to the original owner, and cetain simple hammered-in inlays on Viking sword pommels.

The worst offenders on this scale are the modern wall-hangers you see in tourist stores and some poorly researched fantasy movies. Its understandable that most people don't know what a medieval sword is supposed to look like, but I can't understand why they want it to be covered in non-functional curly-spikey-thingies and fake jewels.

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Henrik Bjoern Boegh]

I find it very interesting to see that what most people here seem to find disinteresting is what has been over-hyped. That's probably why the Japanese stuff is mentioned more than once and also why JG Elmslie said the Scottish stuff (him being a Scot). When you get overexposed to stuff you get fed up with (especially it if you're not much interested from the start) and you also get fed up because you feel there is so much lovely stuff that is neglected.

I'm not interested in swords that have no functional value and I'm not interested in many weapons because I find the design unappealing, even bizarre. I'm not interested in two handed (even Scottish claidhhemh da laims) and hand and a half swords because I feel that they get far more interest than I think the single handers deserve, but again because I generally find them esthetically displeasing. A question of taste, mainly.
But strangely I find some weapons fascinating because they are a bit on the "ugly" side.

Cheers,
Henrik