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Originally Posted by scratch
Thank you Spiral, Thank you Bill for putting me out of my misery. This is the first item I bought about a year ago and its been niggling me since. I then rediscovered kukris, thank goodness!
Johnathon, I must respectfully oppose your designation as a $1 shanghai ebay sword. Clumbsy yes, illformed yes, ugly yes. modern chinese construction, not from where I stand.
Structurally I feel this is a very strong piece of steel, It can absorb a great deal of stress and return true. Thank you for difinitively telling what it is not. I still feel it has some redeeming qualities. I wonder If bored Australian engineers made this at the end of WWII for sale to the better paid American soldiers.Perhaps they copied from a genuine piece, which could explain its crude but robust nature. I was hoping it was of a more tribal nature. Thanks again for ending my confusion  The next items I'm about to post are of chinese origin I believe, more bad news on the way I expect 
Kind regards to All
Daniel |
Dan,
We all have made mistakes in our collecting! We still do, sometimes. You should see some of the Chinese "Emperor General Ming Dynasty" swords I bought a few years ago.
Just keep on reading the posts here. Get to know some people who collect in the areas you like. Send them private messages.
Buy and read books.
Get to know the prices weapons bring. For instance, it is unlikely you will find a good Chinese or Japanese sword for under a thousand dollars. If you do, it will be because you have studied and recognize the rare "sleeper."
There are a lot of clever sellers on eBay. People with hugely inflated shipping charges. People who list items wrong intentionally so that they appear to be "sleepers," hoping to start a bidding frenzy from the sleeper hunters!
My strong suggestion is to read posts here. Use the "Search" Function to find information and people in areas you like.
Buy books and READ them!
Books Can be expensive, but
much less than mistakes you may otherwise make.
There are some very knowledgeable people on this forum, however we all make mistakes. Don't necessarily take what you read here as absolute truth. We are ALL learning.
There are some world-class experts here. For instance, I consider Jonathon (Spiral) to be one of the top people in Khukuris. You mentioned that you like them. He has an outstanding collection and a powerful understanding of these marvelous weapon/tools. Do understand that when you ask him a question, you will get a blunt and accurate opinion.
Welcome to the Forum. Hope that you have a good time here. I certainly do!