q1 yes.
q2 yes.
as an american collector of mostly european and south east asian edged weapons, i have visited and/or lived/travelled in both, ate the food, studied the history. i of course now live in the UK, which is (marginally) european. whether i am typical? probably not. i have also lived in the middle east (KSA) for about 10 years, and have a couple of pieces from the region. knowing the culture aids in understanding the derivation and usage patterns of the items. the more you learn, the more you understand.
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