Napoleon's Mamelukes weapons.

[Lee]

Originally Posted by celtan

I feel it is improper to be using somebody elses weapon's pictures, perhaps even illegal!

My understanding of copyright law (caution - I am not a lawyer) is that copyright is held by the person creating the picture (unless a third party has contracted for the work). If you buy an item at auction, the auction house (or the ebay seller) retains the rights to the catalog / sale pictures. If you use their pictures beyond 'fair use,' you will need their permission. Owning the item obviously affords one the opportunity to create another picture. Pictures you have taken of items in your collection remain your intellectual property beyond your lifetime regardless of whether you retain the item, unless you specifically transfer ownership of the pictures. If you permit a friend to take pictures of items in your collection, copyright for those pictures is held by the photographer, not by you.

When someone researching a few years from now excitedly googles into a relevant thread only to find it useless because the pictures are gone, who do you suppose gets their frustrated email?