Collectors’ Dilemma: Selling the Stories We Once Bought

[Turkoman.khan]

Thank you, Jim, for another great story—and for taking the time and effort to share it and illustrate it so well.
Before I go any further, I just want to say how I felt after reading that very autobiographical article about you (link below for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet).
https://objet.art/as/articles/68c95d7d9dc219f9828d9739

It really struck me how nicknames can sometimes hide the real person behind them, turning a true human story into something distant—almost like a “mighty mouse” or some other screen name—when there’s so much more beneath the surface.

That’s definitely not the case with you. Even surrounded by invented names, your true identity shines through, revealing a warm, engaging, and deeply human nature. Your passion for arms in all their historical glory really comes across—thanks to that wonderful article! Thank you so much for sharing your story with the world.

And I have to say, I love your stories! I was laughing last night while talking with a fellow collector who came over for an evening of good whiskey, a couple of cigars, and the pure pleasure of handling some fine arms and swapping stories—we almost felt like you were right there with us.

Coming back to the matters we discussed earlier in this thread, there are really two big challenges:
How to host and preserve stories like yours?—making them easy to find and keeping them safe in some kind of digital library or platform.
How to keep ignorance from taking over the art market?

Just today a friend sent me a Facebook post by dealer Peter Dekker. He shared the story of a Chinese sword replica he once bought for about ten dollars and sold years ago clearly as a replica—yet it has now resurfaced at a European auction being offered as a genuine antique.

[Jim McDougall]

Turkoman, I am very grateful for your kind words, and attaching that article. It is very humbling quite honestly, and that my obsession has become useful in the broader scope of arms study is incredibly gratifying.

Im glad you like my stories, as you say, these personal experiences add a great deal of dimension to the weapons we study, and their history. I always think of my research projects as adventures into history, and the objective weapon as my guide. All of us have these tales, and exchanging them and enjoying them are part of the wonderful dynamics of these pursuits we share. Truly, they must be preserved along with the history that continues to collectively grow with these studies.

Nicely noted on Peter Dekker, a truly knowledgeable and remarkably gracious and helpful guy! He has helped me a great deal on the esoterica of Chinese arms.
Regarding the occurrence of 'less than authentic' arms appearing in what are supposed to be reputable auction and sale venues, it is an unfortunate situation which has long plagued the arms world.

Years ago I collected and studied British pattern cavalry swords along with the late Eljay Erickson, who was not only a brilliant scholar on them and their history, but adept at repairing and careful at moderate restoration. In later years he became skilled at making faithful reproductions of the early forms, and well renowned.

On one of the forums back then, a discussion of an 18th century British cavalry sword recently acquired came up, and an intense discussion went to just what regiment might have used it in the Revolutionary War. As the discourse carried on, describing many important nuances which might lead to these kinds of detail, suddenly Eljay came in..........
"..uh, this was a sword I made a number of years ago"
Imagine the chagrin!!

Eljay had become concerned at the prospects of just this happening, and always stamped his initials in his work. However, unscrupulous dealers carefully removed them, and presented these as authentic original examples.
This is the bane of arms historians, collectors and all who rely on authentic arms for study.

In my early days of collecting I realized that the most important weapon in my collection should be knowledge.......and my priority became acquiring books (in the days before computers, B.C.) . Still, I have many scars from the unfortunate acquisitions........and like the often costly books, I wrote off those 'deals' as TUITION in my self styled courses in arms study.

This is a wonderful and important topic, and while entries may remain limited, the thread is being read, so hopefully it will bring serious consideration.

Thank you very much Turkoman, for the very kind words, and above all for bringing attention to this important topic.

All the best
Jim

[Rick]

Jim,
You are one of the mainstays of our ship, Mate.

[Jim McDougall]

Rick, thank you so much for those kind words! Really, Im just part of the solid rigging here, and we've withstood some pretty rugged storms, with us all holding it together.

[DaveA]

I greatly appreciate Turkoman’s comment,

Is is, however, always sad to see the same story repeating itself: under many circumstances, knowledge—whether invented, researched, or documented by a previous owner—disappears along with their name.

This is why I decided very early in my collecting that I would preserve everything I could find out about a specific item in my collection. Jim and Alan and others taught me the important lessons that each item in our collections comes from a certain time, place, in the context of culture, situational factors, and was created by an individual for an individual. It may be regarded and named very differently by people who live in the next village over the hill! This makes every item a personal “viewport” into history, and a story can be made from this.

The story is what sparks the excitement of collectors and others.

Often times we don’t have this exact information about a particular item, but we can still find out quite a bit through study and discussions like these. I applaud the effort by collectors and curators to apply scholarly standards of proof to individual items. I suspect that is too much to expect, in general, from such a small and diverse community. We do what we can.

Final thoughts:
— The EEW forums, archives, articles, and discussions are and will continue to be invaluable resources. They must be secured and preserved.
— More articles, please. We have on EEW world-class experts on topics of interest, but we only learn when they teach. Frankly, I don’t have more than a superficial iinterest in metallurgy, but I do value the articles written for non-specialists about major topics, such as wootz steel, or why many Indonesian blades are so durable.
— Truth in selling! The story helps. It is not necessarily, nor ethical, to embellish it. That said, caveat emptor is good advice.

Sorry for such a long-winded post. If you read this far, wonderful! Than you.

Dave A

P.S. With these lessons in mind, I am redoing and updating my personal collection website, Atkinson-swords.com . I’ve neglected it (for technical reasons) for 8 years and have over 100 collection items to add and a lot more info as well!

[Jim McDougall]

Dave,
Thank you for writing this! and NOT long winded!!! (Im the king of long winded around here ...but well expressed reflections on this important topic.

Actually as concerns articles and resources, your website has long been one I visit often in research, and have always been glad for the details you present, so thank you for having it there!

Here we are not just collectors, but a collective community interested in learning not just about the identification of a weapon, but its 'story'. For over two decades we have all joined to learn, and together. The result has been remarkable numbers of mysteries solved that prior had remained complacently held for generations, and the advancement of general knowledge on arms, archived here. I always hope there will be a means for its preservation.

The key words, caveat emptor should be the mantra of every collector, and the best weapon to guarantee its application is knowledge......which is what we together gain here.

All the best
Jim