Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Jim McDougall · 26th November 2012, 05:17 PM

Hi Alan,
Actually those Museum of Historical Arms catalogs remained 'in the main stream' for decades, and I can recall this being sold in vintage bookstores of rare books as recently as several years ago. The Hoffman brothers, who were in Florida, apparantly ceased business decades ago, but thier catalogs lived on as treasured resources despite the degree of erroneous identifications. Admittedly they were largely OK, but we know that others did indeed lift information from these, particularly subsequent dealers. I was buying from the Hoffmans back in the 60s, as well as Fagan, Flayderman, Denner and others. Of all of them I trusted Flayderman's material the most, with Denner running a close second.
However, as I noted, I would not use any catalog references as categoric support for my identifications in researching weapons, but only as a side note with qualifying detail.
I recall one author who had included a classification in his book on a particular weapon form using a transliterated caption from a Russian reference and an entry in a London dealers catalog from years before as support for his identification. The item was subsequently proven to be incorrectly identified, and if I recall correctly the dealer himself had noted that some of his classifications had been incorrectly noted in some of his earlier catalogs.

I once heard someone say, the thing I love most about history is how its always changing! As some historical researchers say, history is not what happened but the descriptions of what happened being written about. With this being the case, there is always new evidence being revealed, and many dealers in catalogs are not usually being deliberately deceptive, but simply using flawed or insufficiently reviewed information.

Naturally all of this is not directed to you Alan, as your knowledge on arms and armour is quite remarkable, but simply as a matter of perspective presented informationally to the reading field out there.

I agree, there is more research to be done on this intriguing sword!
What are the dimensions and other detail? It seems like a very short sword or hanger.

All the very best,
Jim

26th November 2012, 05:17 PM	#12
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,192	Hi Alan, Actually those Museum of Historical Arms catalogs remained 'in the main stream' for decades, and I can recall this being sold in vintage bookstores of rare books as recently as several years ago. The Hoffman brothers, who were in Florida, apparantly ceased business decades ago, but thier catalogs lived on as treasured resources despite the degree of erroneous identifications. Admittedly they were largely OK, but we know that others did indeed lift information from these, particularly subsequent dealers. I was buying from the Hoffmans back in the 60s, as well as Fagan, Flayderman, Denner and others. Of all of them I trusted Flayderman's material the most, with Denner running a close second. However, as I noted, I would not use any catalog references as categoric support for my identifications in researching weapons, but only as a side note with qualifying detail. I recall one author who had included a classification in his book on a particular weapon form using a transliterated caption from a Russian reference and an entry in a London dealers catalog from years before as support for his identification. The item was subsequently proven to be incorrectly identified, and if I recall correctly the dealer himself had noted that some of his classifications had been incorrectly noted in some of his earlier catalogs. I once heard someone say, the thing I love most about history is how its always changing! As some historical researchers say, history is not what happened but the descriptions of what happened being written about. With this being the case, there is always new evidence being revealed, and many dealers in catalogs are not usually being deliberately deceptive, but simply using flawed or insufficiently reviewed information. Naturally all of this is not directed to you Alan, as your knowledge on arms and armour is quite remarkable, but simply as a matter of perspective presented informationally to the reading field out there. I agree, there is more research to be done on this intriguing sword! What are the dimensions and other detail? It seems like a very short sword or hanger. All the very best, Jim