Impetus for the collection of antique weapons

drac2k · 2nd July 2015, 07:03 PM

I was reading a post by Kronckew and he ended by stating that the purchase of an expensive sword started him on his journey in procuring swords, etc. and I instantly remembered when I first embarked on my addiction to acquire these strange and wonderful items.
First a brief history on the item, an old Indo-Persian serrated edged sword with a guard and a hilt in the form of lions and the pommel in the shape of a man's head.
My mother's mother had an old home in Baltimore that they had purchased from a Missionary ; as typical in those days, it had a coal shoot and a coal furnace that they used for heating. The furnace exploded and spewed coal dust all over the house and so my father, being the "good son-in-law," volunteered(or was volunteered), to clean the mess.He worked for days and he was at the end of the job, when in the basement, on the rafters, he found this sword that must have there for years (he found it over 60 years ago).
Well, to make a long story short, my mother presented to me when I was 14 years old; why I don't know, it wasn't for any special occasion, but as I marveled over that magical item, it unlocked something within me and served as a catalyst and yes sometimes obsession.
Does anyone else remember that first special item ?

Royston · 2nd July 2015, 09:08 PM

My Grandfather had a German Saw-back Mauser bayonet brought back by his elder brother on his last leave. ( He died in 1916 from either typhoid or cholera )
I always wanted it and Grandad promised it to me for my 16th birthday. This became my 18th and then 21st. I think I was about 30 when he finally let me have it. It is the only bayonet in my collection and along with a photo of my Great Uncle will remain in the family.
Roy

Shakethetrees · 3rd July 2015, 04:17 AM

My family went to my grandparents house to get something from some footlockers my father put there when he came home from Europe after WWII. As a very young kid I had no idea what this meant.

I was sitting on the kitchen table (I was four, maybe five years old) and in he comes back in wearing an M35 Normandy camouflage helmet and carrying a Mauser K98 with the bayonet still attached. Scared the hell out of me! We would regularly watch B&W war movies, so I instantly knew what it was!

Over the next few years more stuff came out, to be used as toys when all the neighborhood boys played soldier. Fortunately I was careful to keep it all together, sometime risking fights!

A War Merit Cross went to kindergarden with me for show and tell, and a "big kid" attempted to strong arm it away from me when the teacher wasn't looking. Since I couldn't win this battle straight up, I grabbed a small chair and used it to convince him to let go. Let us say several valuable lessons were learned that day....

I was doomed....

AJ1356 · 3rd July 2015, 04:22 AM

drac2k, do you have any pictures of the mantioned sword?
Mine was what I now think to have been a shashka leaning the the corner of one of the rooms of house I grew up in. It was said to have belonged to my grandmother's family brought with them from Samarqand. I still wonder what happened to it.

drac2k · 3rd July 2015, 04:47 AM

I'm glad you mentioned the sword ; I went upstairs at 11:25 PM and I was able to find it after only 20 minutes of searching.I will post pictures tomorrow after my wife has had her first cup of coffee.
I have really enjoyed all of the stories from the forum members !

drac2k · 3rd July 2015, 03:28 PM

Here are pictures of that first sword.My wife has corrected me(she knows my family history better than I do) ; the house where the sword was found was on 50 Lenriet st.,in Rochester N.Y.

A. G. Maisey · 4th July 2015, 01:08 AM

Two things:-

visit to my mother's aunt's house when I was about 5 and handling keris and other artifacts sent to her by her son who lived in Malaya for a number of years after release from Changi at end of WWII.

at age 12 my grandfather gave me his small collection knives and daggers that he had collected in the period 1918 to about 1930.

drac2k · 4th July 2015, 04:01 AM

Very cool (yes, I speak the language of dinosaurs ); If a parent acted in a similar manner that our mothers, fathers and relatives did then, introducing artifacts to children, they would be in jail and their children taken away by
Social Services .

A. G. Maisey · 4th July 2015, 04:55 AM

At age six, I was given a full size bowie by my uncle. He was a boiler maker, and he'd made it himself.

Age 8 I used my saved up pocket money to buy an OKEH hunting knife while I was on holidays. It had plastic handle that broke years ago, about 30 years ago I re-birthed it as trout-bird.

My 12 yo and 16 yo grandsons are permitted to have pocket knives --- whilst on camping trips. Once home these extremely dangerous Opinels go back to mum for safe keeping.

Talk about a nanny society!!

Battara · 4th July 2015, 05:25 AM

My interest originally started in martial arts, especially escrima and arnis with modern stuff like balisongs. However, right after I got married, I wanted more historical things, so my first old piece was an SA Nazi dagger, but after lots of trading and learning, I moved toward mostly my Filipino heritage.

Now it has grown to mostly Filipino, some Ottoman/Turkish, some Indonesian, Indian, and some sacred/religious weaponry (and some Philippine textiles). I am also interested in Arabic, Scottish, Tibetan, and Japanese to name some other areas of interest.

It is the artwork, spirituality, anthropology, and history of these human symbols and artifacts that keep my interest and connection.

drac2k · 4th July 2015, 03:00 PM

I share your "connections to these artifacts," for the reasons that you stated and if you humor me I will add another one;a "common collective unconsciousness ," that we are all wired into, that links each and everyone of us.
Example:
I am the most difficult person to buy a present for;I will often l tell family members "don't worry about it, I don't need anything." This was unacceptable to my wife, who bless her heart keeps trying and so one year she purchased for me a psychic reading. I told her that I wasn't interested about hearing about the future, it would get here soon enough, but she was undaunted,and she told me it was a reading of past lives;my attitude changed, I thought this would be fun.
I met the psychic, an older woman who took my hand, looked me in the eyes and began to tell me about past lives; she didn't ask me a single question prior to her reading.I almost hit the floor, when she said she saw me surrounded by swords,and that in the 18th century, I was a famous Philippine sword maker.People would travel hundreds of miles to purchase my jeweled
weapons.
The reason why this surprised me was that for some reason, I have always been especially drawn to Indonesian and Philippine weapons and I don't know why, particularly since I am a fairly large white male of Northern Italian and Austrian heritage and prior to my collecting, no interaction with anyone from the Philippine community.

2nd July 2015, 07:03 PM	#1
drac2k Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,174	Impetus for the collection of antique weapons I was reading a post by Kronckew and he ended by stating that the purchase of an expensive sword started him on his journey in procuring swords, etc. and I instantly remembered when I first embarked on my addiction to acquire these strange and wonderful items. First a brief history on the item, an old Indo-Persian serrated edged sword with a guard and a hilt in the form of lions and the pommel in the shape of a man's head. My mother's mother had an old home in Baltimore that they had purchased from a Missionary ; as typical in those days, it had a coal shoot and a coal furnace that they used for heating. The furnace exploded and spewed coal dust all over the house and so my father, being the "good son-in-law," volunteered(or was volunteered), to clean the mess.He worked for days and he was at the end of the job, when in the basement, on the rafters, he found this sword that must have there for years (he found it over 60 years ago). Well, to make a long story short, my mother presented to me when I was 14 years old; why I don't know, it wasn't for any special occasion, but as I marveled over that magical item, it unlocked something within me and served as a catalyst and yes sometimes obsession. Does anyone else remember that first special item ? Last edited by drac2k; 2nd July 2015 at 07:30 PM.

3rd July 2015, 03:28 PM	#6
drac2k Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,174	Here are pictures of that first sword.My wife has corrected me(she knows my family history better than I do) ; the house where the sword was found was on 50 Lenriet st.,in Rochester N.Y. Attached Images

2nd July 2015, 09:08 PM	#2
Royston Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Poole England Posts: 441	My Grandfather had a German Saw-back Mauser bayonet brought back by his elder brother on his last leave. ( He died in 1916 from either typhoid or cholera ) I always wanted it and Grandad promised it to me for my 16th birthday. This became my 18th and then 21st. I think I was about 30 when he finally let me have it. It is the only bayonet in my collection and along with a photo of my Great Uncle will remain in the family. Roy

3rd July 2015, 04:17 AM	#3
Shakethetrees Member Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Louisiana Posts: 363	My family went to my grandparents house to get something from some footlockers my father put there when he came home from Europe after WWII. As a very young kid I had no idea what this meant. I was sitting on the kitchen table (I was four, maybe five years old) and in he comes back in wearing an M35 Normandy camouflage helmet and carrying a Mauser K98 with the bayonet still attached. Scared the hell out of me! We would regularly watch B&W war movies, so I instantly knew what it was! Over the next few years more stuff came out, to be used as toys when all the neighborhood boys played soldier. Fortunately I was careful to keep it all together, sometime risking fights! A War Merit Cross went to kindergarden with me for show and tell, and a "big kid" attempted to strong arm it away from me when the teacher wasn't looking. Since I couldn't win this battle straight up, I grabbed a small chair and used it to convince him to let go. Let us say several valuable lessons were learned that day.... I was doomed....

3rd July 2015, 04:22 AM	#4
AJ1356 Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Nashville Posts: 314	drac2k, do you have any pictures of the mantioned sword? Mine was what I now think to have been a shashka leaning the the corner of one of the rooms of house I grew up in. It was said to have belonged to my grandmother's family brought with them from Samarqand. I still wonder what happened to it.

3rd July 2015, 04:47 AM	#5
drac2k Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,174	I'm glad you mentioned the sword ; I went upstairs at 11:25 PM and I was able to find it after only 20 minutes of searching.I will post pictures tomorrow after my wife has had her first cup of coffee. I have really enjoyed all of the stories from the forum members !

4th July 2015, 01:08 AM	#7
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,697	Two things:- visit to my mother's aunt's house when I was about 5 and handling keris and other artifacts sent to her by her son who lived in Malaya for a number of years after release from Changi at end of WWII. at age 12 my grandfather gave me his small collection knives and daggers that he had collected in the period 1918 to about 1930.

4th July 2015, 04:01 AM	#8
drac2k Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,174	Very cool (yes, I speak the language of dinosaurs ); If a parent acted in a similar manner that our mothers, fathers and relatives did then, introducing artifacts to children, they would be in jail and their children taken away by Social Services .

4th July 2015, 04:55 AM	#9
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,697	At age six, I was given a full size bowie by my uncle. He was a boiler maker, and he'd made it himself. Age 8 I used my saved up pocket money to buy an OKEH hunting knife while I was on holidays. It had plastic handle that broke years ago, about 30 years ago I re-birthed it as trout-bird. My 12 yo and 16 yo grandsons are permitted to have pocket knives --- whilst on camping trips. Once home these extremely dangerous Opinels go back to mum for safe keeping. Talk about a nanny society!!

4th July 2015, 05:25 AM	#10
Battara EAAF Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 7,139	My interest originally started in martial arts, especially escrima and arnis with modern stuff like balisongs. However, right after I got married, I wanted more historical things, so my first old piece was an SA Nazi dagger, but after lots of trading and learning, I moved toward mostly my Filipino heritage. Now it has grown to mostly Filipino, some Ottoman/Turkish, some Indonesian, Indian, and some sacred/religious weaponry (and some Philippine textiles). I am also interested in Arabic, Scottish, Tibetan, and Japanese to name some other areas of interest. It is the artwork, spirituality, anthropology, and history of these human symbols and artifacts that keep my interest and connection.

4th July 2015, 03:00 PM	#11
drac2k Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,174	I share your "connections to these artifacts," for the reasons that you stated and if you humor me I will add another one;a "common collective unconsciousness ," that we are all wired into, that links each and everyone of us. Example: I am the most difficult person to buy a present for;I will often l tell family members "don't worry about it, I don't need anything." This was unacceptable to my wife, who bless her heart keeps trying and so one year she purchased for me a psychic reading. I told her that I wasn't interested about hearing about the future, it would get here soon enough, but she was undaunted,and she told me it was a reading of past lives;my attitude changed, I thought this would be fun. I met the psychic, an older woman who took my hand, looked me in the eyes and began to tell me about past lives; she didn't ask me a single question prior to her reading.I almost hit the floor, when she said she saw me surrounded by swords,and that in the 18th century, I was a famous Philippine sword maker.People would travel hundreds of miles to purchase my jeweled weapons. The reason why this surprised me was that for some reason, I have always been especially drawn to Indonesian and Philippine weapons and I don't know why, particularly since I am a fairly large white male of Northern Italian and Austrian heritage and prior to my collecting, no interaction with anyone from the Philippine community.