Goin to Chicago
Next week i'm going with my family to Chicago and i was wondering what, if anything, sword related was up there. Any recommendations for museums and shops would be appreciated. :D
Yes, the Art Institure of Chicago has a nice collection of arms and armor: http://www.myArmoury.com/books/item.php?ASIN=0821222058.
I'd call first
When I was there about two months ago, they had removed a good portion of their collection because of some remodeling. I'd give the Art Institute a call before you go because it could be a disappointing trip. Fortunately, I had gone to Chicago to drink beer...so all was not lost. I can give you some good recommendations for beer bars if you want... :-)
There's always the Bristol Renaissance Faire (http://www.renfair.com/bristol/) for a good time. It's where my group makes its home during the summer and Arms and Armor and Mayhawke Armoury (Lutel dealer) have booths there. If you come on a Sunday you can watch us explode a watermelon with a pistol and cut a slab of ribs in half with an Albion Squire. :)
Yes, I would think you will love the Bristol Renaissance Faire, it's right off Int. Rt. 294 a mile or two north of the IL/WI state line. I believe my wife and I will be there this coming Saturday and next Saturday, I pop by the Arms & Armor booth a lot to talk to Dave Peck and will also be by a lot to talk to Chris Last. It's definitely a real fun place to be in my opinion!

Bob
I haven't been to the Art Institue since they've started remodeling, but they do have some very nice pieces. It's definitely worth the trip. It's right downtown anyway, so there will be no loss of things to do in that area.
As of late March when I was there, the Harding Collection at the AIC was condensed to only one side of Gunaulus Hall (and part of the middle-area) due to construction of the new musuem facility. The new facility will open in 2009 and the Harding Collection should then at least be restored to the entire Gunsaulus Hall.

At present, the collection is still very much worth a visit, especially for those interested in armour. Most everything on display--both arms and armour--is ca. 1500-1700. So, don't expect the number, variety and age of swords like you'd find at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. For now, at least, the AIC offers little depth, but great breadth. There are some real gems among the handful of swords on display. Keep in mind that the current display represents only about are only about one-sixth of the entire Harding Collection of 1500 items. I highly recommend getting a copy of the out-of-print book cited above.

Here's a link to the AIC site:
http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/armor/index.php
Sorry for the slight thread necromancy and hijack:

My wife and I actually ended up at both the Chicago Art Institute and the Bristol Faire over the weekend.
Got to play around in the Arms & Armor booth and caught the exploding cantelope (4th times a charm, eh?)
I really wanted to go to the Bristol Faire this past Saturday but my wife wanted to stay home and play in her garden so I wound up going to the sword etc. store near me and bought a real nice 13 sword stand that displays the swords in a double row, 7 in back and 6 in front, also bought a pole arm stand. I am real sorry that I missed you Eric if you were there Saturday, glad you got to meet David Peck at the Arms & Armor booth, he's a real classy guy and the person who got me started in this obsession and additionally, David is a sword instructor. In fact he helped work on the fantastic German Longsword books by Christian Tobler. I cannot say enough good things about David!

Sincerely,

Bob
I was there on Sunday, and even if we were there simultaneously, we probably would have walked right past eachother, neither of us being any the wiser we missed.

Unless David Peck is a skinny 20-something guy, I don't think I met him (though the guy running the booth was from the C.S.G.).
Eric Allen wrote:
Sorry for the slight thread necromancy and hijack:

My wife and I actually ended up at both the Chicago Art Institute and the Bristol Faire over the weekend.
Got to play around in the Arms & Armor booth and caught the exploding cantelope (4th times a charm, eh?)


Ha! You caught that one huh? Ya I really needed to change out the flint in that pistol. :) I hope you had a good time at Bristol, wish I could have had more time to sit and chat with you. Were you able to check out our pieces at all?
Not really. My wife was getting tired, and we had a five-hour drive ahead of us, so we just left immediately after your demo was over.
Nah, David is not the 20 some year old. :lol: But he is the guy that you spoke of who runs the booth, he's also a math professor. Attached is a picture of David and I on Saturday July 8, 2006. It's David's fault that I got hopelessly sucked into this obsession too! :lol:

I hope you had a great day at the Bristol Faire Eric. From what I've learned, I am very lucky to be so close to such a big Renaissance Faire, then add on top of that I am even closer to an internet medieval sword store of which has the lowest prices I've seen anywhere. I really should count my blessings or is this a curse? :lol:

I have not been back to the fair since opening day, I was dying to go last Saturday and my wife wanted to garden but this coming Saturday, come hell or high water, I will be at the Bristol Renaissance Fair :!:

To All, Keep Well!

Bob


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Nope, I missed David. I think I saw him there, but when I was playing with the toys, he wasn't there.

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