Is this an "old man's hobby"?

Berkley · 22nd November 2012, 02:43 AM

I'm 66. Began collecting antique firearms when I was 14. Always tried to follow the rule of acquiring at least one reference book for every new piece in the collection. Bought a kukri at a gun show on a whim when I was 55 - knew nothing about it, thought it looked interesting, and tried to find out more about it. Discovered that, unlike the many firearms books available, there was precious little printed information about the kukri. Began searching the newly evolving Internet, haunted eBay, developed a correspondence with a gentleman named John Powell who outbid me on a piece I really wanted. Discovered this and other online forums. The collection continues to grow, and I keep meeting other collectors online, a much more gratifying way of learning than simply reading a book.
I think it has always been the case that acquiring a collection takes time, and collectors therefore tend to be older. Whether the field of weapons collecting is one that will continue to attract new collectors in a changing world is something I do wonder about.

weapons 27 · 23rd November 2012, 04:26 PM

I am 48 years , I have been collecting for about 10 years

antoine

not2sharp · 23rd November 2012, 07:08 PM

I am 50, and I have been collecting and trading things since very early in life.

n2s

KuKulzA28 · 23rd November 2012, 09:08 PM

22 currently.

I like history and martial arts, and it led me to collecting antique weapons. But I am not much of a collector... I buy, enjoy it for a bit, and then sell to recuperate the cost. So I'm not big on collecting, due to a combination of cost, taking up space, and not really using them.... but they are very nice.

Timo Nieminen · 23rd November 2012, 09:52 PM

45. I'm a martial-arts oriented collector, weapons as objects of use, rather than objects of art. So I have modern replicas, mass-produced military edged weapons, and ethnographic weapons. Some stuff purely as art, but that's a spin-off from the main "user" collection.

Will M · 21st April 2020, 04:20 PM

I am 59, ouch! Seems it was just a few years ago I began collecting but it's been decades ago. Mostly British pattern cavalry swords with infantry sneaking in there because swords with provenance are most interesting.
I find militaria shows where I am, Toronto, Ottawa etc. do not draw the percentage of people I would expect, only about 0.01%

Araña_del_Sol · 21st April 2020, 04:26 PM

I'm 33, been collecting since I was 21

Athanase · 21st April 2020, 04:44 PM

Hello,
I'm 34 year old.
I started my Indonesian weapons collection with a Mandau from the 1960s in 2013

Iliad · 26th November 2012, 07:48 PM

Aged 71; started collecting about 12 years ago. Collecting edged weapons seems to be an incurable disease. Is there any way out?
But I have made so many friends!
Brian

Peter Andeweg · 25th April 2020, 02:44 PM

I'm 29 years of age. After a period in the military, it all started about 7 years ago to study and deal mostly in arms and armor. I spent the last 5 years in the study of oriental arms and armor including tribal and ethnographic weaponry.
This forum is a huge plus when it comes to combining knowledge in this specific field of interest.

Hope to share and gain extensive knowledge on this forum in the future.

All the best to everyone!

Peter Andeweg

rickystl · 26th April 2020, 03:31 PM

I will turn 70 next month. Bought my first surplus machete with sheath when I was about 10/11 years old. Paid $3.00 for it as I recall. Been shooting/collecting antique guns (and the occasional blade) since I was 14 years old. And it is still a passion. As far as the average age of collectors:

If you ever attend the Antique Arms Show in Baltimore, MD (cancelled this year) it is hard to notice anyone there under the age of 50.

Rick

Jens Nordlunde · 26th April 2020, 04:37 PM

Come on Ariel, I have been retired (early due to the sale of my firm) for more than 22 years. As long as you have hobbies/interests it is no problem.
In a year or so I am closing in on 80, so the rest of you youngsters should take it easy:-).

ariel · 27th April 2020, 12:19 AM

Yessiree! :-)

Cthulhu · 30th April 2020, 06:09 AM

I keep thinking how old everyone seems, till I realize I'm right up there with them at 50. How did I get so old?

I was always interested in knives as a boy, and would drool over those horrible catalogs of goofy survival gear and production knives. I ended up, with great difficulty, finding a copy of Stone's guide, which fascinated me. When I was 17 I was vacationing in the UK with my family, we saw various swords and blades, including a nice kukri on display in the basement of someone's family castle. Later that trip we saw a sign for a Gurkha army museum, and my mom said "Maybe they'll sell you a kukri." Being a teenger I rolled my eyes and said "Right, Mom, they'll have a sign saying kukri knife, 20 pounds." It turned out it was actually 15 pounds, and my parents were nice enough to buy it for me. Back home I started haunting the local pawn shop and buying any bladed junk that caught my eye. After several years of that I found out there were knife shows, and at the BAKCA show in South San Francisco met Dave and Lonna Schmiedt, which started me on keris, Indian, and Philippine weapons, and after a bit I started buying Indonesian blades from Alan Maisey.

That all ended when I got married and got the look of death for spending money on things that were not my wife. So there was a very long pause in collecting, but eventually I ended up with a different wife who encouraged me to mount the swords I already had on the walls of our living room, and maybe get a few more to fill out the display. (I still get the look of death, just for other reasons)

Since then, I've decided Indian weapons are by far my favorite, and with the internet and easily accessible auctions I've been collecting a lot more. I'm trying to avoid just collecting to collect; I want each piece in my collection to be something I didn't have before, or to be an upgrade, and I'll get rid of the old piece. At least so I tell myself.
Anyway that's my history. I did have the pleasure of talking to a friend's son recently who had made his own replica panabas, and we talked blades for an hour. I recommended to his parents that he get a copy of Stone's. Hopefully he'll become part of the next generation of caretakers of these pieces of history.

Ian · 30th April 2020, 10:38 AM

I can't remember if I've posted in this thread before--must be getting old timer's disease.

Anyway, I'm 73 in a month and been retired for five years. I guess that's old, although I don't feel old. My first knife was a Boy Scout pocket knife with a sheep's foot blade and a spike (still got it!). Started collecting in SE Asia while backpacking in the early 1960s, and never really stopped. There was a period in the 1960s when I was studying medicine and I collected little, but work trips to mainland SE Asia in the 1970s and 1980s, and to the Philippines in the 1990s and 2000s got me fired up. Then along came eBay and the whole world became possible. ...

Now I have over a thousand pieces and the wife is telling me they have to go before I die because she doesn't want to deal with them.

22nd November 2012, 02:43 AM	#1
Berkley Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Austin, Texas USA Posts: 257	I'm 66. Began collecting antique firearms when I was 14. Always tried to follow the rule of acquiring at least one reference book for every new piece in the collection. Bought a kukri at a gun show on a whim when I was 55 - knew nothing about it, thought it looked interesting, and tried to find out more about it. Discovered that, unlike the many firearms books available, there was precious little printed information about the kukri. Began searching the newly evolving Internet, haunted eBay, developed a correspondence with a gentleman named John Powell who outbid me on a piece I really wanted. Discovered this and other online forums. The collection continues to grow, and I keep meeting other collectors online, a much more gratifying way of learning than simply reading a book. I think it has always been the case that acquiring a collection takes time, and collectors therefore tend to be older. Whether the field of weapons collecting is one that will continue to attract new collectors in a changing world is something I do wonder about.

23rd November 2012, 04:26 PM	#2
weapons 27 Member Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 462	I am 48 years , I have been collecting for about 10 years antoine

23rd November 2012, 07:08 PM	#3
not2sharp Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 210	I am 50, and I have been collecting and trading things since very early in life. n2s

23rd November 2012, 09:08 PM	#4
KuKulzA28 Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: between work and sleep Posts: 731	22 currently. I like history and martial arts, and it led me to collecting antique weapons. But I am not much of a collector... I buy, enjoy it for a bit, and then sell to recuperate the cost. So I'm not big on collecting, due to a combination of cost, taking up space, and not really using them.... but they are very nice.

23rd November 2012, 09:52 PM	#5
Timo Nieminen Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 422	45. I'm a martial-arts oriented collector, weapons as objects of use, rather than objects of art. So I have modern replicas, mass-produced military edged weapons, and ethnographic weapons. Some stuff purely as art, but that's a spin-off from the main "user" collection.

21st April 2020, 04:20 PM	#6
Will M Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: In the wee woods north of Napanee Ontario Posts: 390	I am 59, ouch! Seems it was just a few years ago I began collecting but it's been decades ago. Mostly British pattern cavalry swords with infantry sneaking in there because swords with provenance are most interesting. I find militaria shows where I am, Toronto, Ottawa etc. do not draw the percentage of people I would expect, only about 0.01%

21st April 2020, 04:26 PM	#7
Araña_del_Sol Member Join Date: Oct 2018 Posts: 39	I'm 33, been collecting since I was 21

21st April 2020, 04:44 PM	#8
Athanase Member Join Date: Mar 2016 Location: Paris (France) Posts: 407	Hello, I'm 34 year old. I started my Indonesian weapons collection with a Mandau from the 1960s in 2013

26th November 2012, 07:48 PM	#9
Iliad Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 187	Aged 71; started collecting about 12 years ago. Collecting edged weapons seems to be an incurable disease. Is there any way out? But I have made so many friends! Brian

25th April 2020, 02:44 PM	#10
Peter Andeweg Member Join Date: Feb 2020 Location: Vlissingen, Netherlands Posts: 71	I'm 29 years of age. After a period in the military, it all started about 7 years ago to study and deal mostly in arms and armor. I spent the last 5 years in the study of oriental arms and armor including tribal and ethnographic weaponry. This forum is a huge plus when it comes to combining knowledge in this specific field of interest. Hope to share and gain extensive knowledge on this forum in the future. All the best to everyone! Peter Andeweg

27th April 2020, 12:19 AM	#13
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	Yessiree! :-)

26th April 2020, 03:31 PM	#11
rickystl Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: St. Louis, MO area. Posts: 1,621	I will turn 70 next month. Bought my first surplus machete with sheath when I was about 10/11 years old. Paid $3.00 for it as I recall. Been shooting/collecting antique guns (and the occasional blade) since I was 14 years old. And it is still a passion. As far as the average age of collectors: If you ever attend the Antique Arms Show in Baltimore, MD (cancelled this year) it is hard to notice anyone there under the age of 50. Rick

26th April 2020, 04:37 PM	#12
Jens Nordlunde Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Europe Posts: 2,713	Come on Ariel, I have been retired (early due to the sale of my firm) for more than 22 years. As long as you have hobbies/interests it is no problem. In a year or so I am closing in on 80, so the rest of you youngsters should take it easy:-).

30th April 2020, 06:09 AM	#14
Cthulhu Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Central Valley, California Posts: 46	I keep thinking how old everyone seems, till I realize I'm right up there with them at 50. How did I get so old? I was always interested in knives as a boy, and would drool over those horrible catalogs of goofy survival gear and production knives. I ended up, with great difficulty, finding a copy of Stone's guide, which fascinated me. When I was 17 I was vacationing in the UK with my family, we saw various swords and blades, including a nice kukri on display in the basement of someone's family castle. Later that trip we saw a sign for a Gurkha army museum, and my mom said "Maybe they'll sell you a kukri." Being a teenger I rolled my eyes and said "Right, Mom, they'll have a sign saying kukri knife, 20 pounds." It turned out it was actually 15 pounds, and my parents were nice enough to buy it for me. Back home I started haunting the local pawn shop and buying any bladed junk that caught my eye. After several years of that I found out there were knife shows, and at the BAKCA show in South San Francisco met Dave and Lonna Schmiedt, which started me on keris, Indian, and Philippine weapons, and after a bit I started buying Indonesian blades from Alan Maisey. That all ended when I got married and got the look of death for spending money on things that were not my wife. So there was a very long pause in collecting, but eventually I ended up with a different wife who encouraged me to mount the swords I already had on the walls of our living room, and maybe get a few more to fill out the display. (I still get the look of death, just for other reasons) Since then, I've decided Indian weapons are by far my favorite, and with the internet and easily accessible auctions I've been collecting a lot more. I'm trying to avoid just collecting to collect; I want each piece in my collection to be something I didn't have before, or to be an upgrade, and I'll get rid of the old piece. At least so I tell myself. Anyway that's my history. I did have the pleasure of talking to a friend's son recently who had made his own replica panabas, and we talked blades for an hour. I recommended to his parents that he get a copy of Stone's. Hopefully he'll become part of the next generation of caretakers of these pieces of history.

30th April 2020, 10:38 AM	#15
Ian Vikingsword Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: The Aussie Bush Posts: 4,053	I can't remember if I've posted in this thread before--must be getting old timer's disease. Anyway, I'm 73 in a month and been retired for five years. I guess that's old, although I don't feel old. My first knife was a Boy Scout pocket knife with a sheep's foot blade and a spike (still got it!). Started collecting in SE Asia while backpacking in the early 1960s, and never really stopped. There was a period in the 1960s when I was studying medicine and I collected little, but work trips to mainland SE Asia in the 1970s and 1980s, and to the Philippines in the 1990s and 2000s got me fired up. Then along came eBay and the whole world became possible. ... Now I have over a thousand pieces and the wife is telling me they have to go before I die because she doesn't want to deal with them.