Ethnographic Arms & Armour - Arms collecting and nostalgia

Ethnographic Arms & Armour (http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/index.php)

- European Armoury (http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=12)

- - Arms collecting and nostalgia (http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=30434)

As someone born in the 90's, and I know I am going to get laughed out of here for calling this nostalgia, but I have to give some love to Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings. I am sorry Ralph Bakshi fans but it is the superior version.

Lord of the Rings was probably my first intro to arms and armor, and I watched those movies so many times that it's burned into my brain. And they weren't totally made up weapons either! They were semi-functional looking. And it lead me to reading a ton of Wikipedia pages on weapons and armor. And then i bought books on arms and armor. And now I'm here!

My brother asked for a chainmail hauberk for Christmas shortly after the second movie. I also received a cheap "El Cid" sword. I'm pretty sure that hauberk is the only reason my brother isn't full of holes.

And now I can watch those moviea and go "oh, I love Anglo-Saxon motifs on those swords guards". And I still love those movies.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 10thRoyal (Post 295791)

NOT at all 10th!!! This is about nostalgia and what things from when we were kids drove us into these arms collecting obsessions. The other thread that has been running for some time is on actual vintage arms used in movies as props. In many cases actual antique weapon forms directly influenced the fantasy weapons of these kinds of films, games and literature.
It seems like there were weapons in this category in "Dungeons and Dragons" and others.
I think most if us still watch those old movies, and smile as we look at how far we've come as we hold 'the real thing'. !!
While we study the REAL weapons, we all try to keep the magic!

Among the many old films I loved watching were the Errol Flynn swashbucklers, notably "Captain Blood" (1935).
I was captivated by the amazing cup hilt rapiers!! and dashing sword fights.
Years later I took fencing for a short time, and much of the course had to do with 'stage combat'. I recall my dad as I told him I was taking this...."GREAT Jim! something you can always use!" he groused.

Naturally the cost of a genuine rapier was pretty far out of reach, but one day through amazing luck, I was able to get one! The Spanish cup hilt c. 1650s and I had literally found my way back to those wonderful films as I held it!
I would have not made it as a pirate...........who cares about doubloons and treasure? check out this cuphilt! :)

While rewatching this and other pirate movies of those times, technically many of the swords in the scenes were not cuphilts, but close enough for a wide eyed kid, and some scenes DID have the distinctive cuphilts.

Just added a letter from movie studio official re: Errol Flynns rapier used in the movie "Against All Flags"......found this in a post by our late colleague Fernando, who truly knew these weapons. A rapier thread came to life with his input.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall (Post 295557)

While I dont know the series, I can see by the cartoons it explored the entire spectrum of history, and what a great way to expose youngsters to it!
If only our schooling of today taught history with any degree of dimension to kids, but thankfully these kinds of media venues provide the prompts to bring interest.

What an amazing and personal story of this cavalry sword! and all the better as it belonged to your great uncle, which brought you into the history it had seen with him. To have the actual weapon(s) of family members who have literally been involved in history themselves is pure treasure!!!
I'd love to see pics of the sword and him!

It is amazing at what a comprehensive interest this brought to you, and the knowledge on swords in general you gained and share here constantly.
Thank you for that and for sharing this. :)

Here is a photo of my great uncle and his cavalry sword. In the photo he is standing in front of Karlberg castle Military Academy in Stockholm where he received his officer training. He was an officer of Kungliga Norrlands Dragoner (K4) based in Umeå. Karlberg military academy est.1792 is allegedly the world’s oldest continuously operating from the original location military academy. The sword (a pallasch) was hung in a frog attached to the saddle.

Nowhere near as far back as most, but I ended up with a number of firearms as a direct result of Red Dead Redemption 2. (I'm normally pretty focused on WWI-WWII stuff.)