My first Tulwar

[fernando]

Hi Emanuel,

Originally Posted by Manolo

Hello,

Perhaps a way to resolve the matter of whether or not tulwars were stored disassembled would be to look at the old catalogues when Indian armouries sold their stock to western auction houses and collectors. Were the countless tulwars sold assembled or disassembled? If assembled, would the armouries or the buyers go through all the trouble of re-hilting the thousands of tulwars that were bought?

Flavio, I recommend you start using eBay, there are loads of tulwars at cheap prices, as well as scores of other goodies. Here in Canada I think our situation is reversed from yours: our antique shops are empty and we have no junk shops. People here have little to no real interest in pre-WWI stuff. At military shows the cheap ethno tourist trinkets are priced off the scale, so ebay is the best alternative.


Regards,
Emanuel

Between the historical time reflected in the book (relative to the Discoveries period, XVI-XVII century), and the stock sell out of the Indian Armouries, a good couple centuries were past. Probably some techniques and tatics were vanished by then, tulwars were not the massive vital weapon any more, thus not being the fulcrum of stategies.
The same thing could happen with their blade fixing system, rivets or no rivets ... what do i know?
I am not sayingt that the book author is not wrong or talking nonsense, but maybe some points should be considered, to give it the benefit of doubt.

I notice that you call me Flavio. I hope he doesn't mind you calling me his name ... i don't
I don't use eBay by option, based on various reasons ... some of them subjective: I hate to wait long for things to arrive, i hate that they are submited to customs with whatever unexpected results, i hate to find out that the thing i ordered is not what i expected ( i am already sucker enough without that ), i hate to bid and loose, and i hate the idea to find one more way to spend money. Even sticking only to what i find in shops and junk fairs around here, is more than enough for me to expand my consumism vice.
BTW, pre WW1 stuff is still to modern for my taste. I also neither fancy reproductions nor still active pieces. I like real antique things, XIX century or prior, as if i were a tycoon
When i feel that my pockets are full, i travel to Lisbon to visit my daughter ( some 220 miles ), and go to a couple specialized shops there, where one can find tones of good old and serious ( expensive ) stuff.
All the best
fernando