Excited to See an Object from My Collection Come to Life

[Turkoman.khan]

Dear forum friends,

I just had one of those moments that really makes you stop and smile. After years — actually, decades — of collecting, I’ve often wondered what happens next. What do we do with all these objects we’ve spent half our lives chasing, studying, and caring for?

For a long time, I thought about making a catalogue, but it always felt impossible — too much work, too much coordination, and probably a pile of books sitting in my basement at the end of it. And honestly, not many people today spend as much time with printed catalogues as they used to.

So imagine my surprise and joy when I found a way to see one of my pieces presented alongside others from different collections — placed in proper context, with all the connections and stories that make it more than just an object. It suddenly felt alive, part of something bigger.

It’s a wonderful feeling — seeing something you’ve looked after for years become part of a shared story, reaching people who might appreciate it just as much as you do. The folks behind the project really did a fantastic job making all this possible through technology.

And, to be honest, it’s also comforting to know that one day, if my kids don’t share the same passion, these pieces will still have a life and provenance of their own — a way to carry their story forward:

https://objet.art/as/articles/68dbfcf9bd76d58bdc49849a

[Jim McDougall]

Turkoman, this is a wonderful and very moving post! and thrilling to see your beautiful weapon placed in such perfectly suited context, especially in an article written by Dima. His expertise in composing articles on these most esoteric topics and in detailed explanations which are thoroughly captivating is the perfect context to showcase and secure the legacy of your fine example.

I think you express the very sentiments of many of us in the arms community, especially old timers like myself. Indeed I know, as you describe, I have spent my life not only in acquiring select items, but studying them thoroughly as they have not only served as my guides into history, but become dear friends in a sense.

It is not just our own personal legacy we wish to have some sort of place which we hope to have established in the evolving history of arms studies, but that of these weapons that have dearly accompanied us in our quests.

Torben Flindt, who Dima mentions in this article, was a brilliant Danish researcher, who wrote the seminal paper on Bukharen edged weapons published in Robert Elgood's "Islamic Arms and Armor" in 1979. As far as I know, that is his only published work, and the only such work focused on Bukharen arms in English I am aware of.

Years ago I had the honor of communicating with him working on a project with an Afghan saber which had been identified as from Uzbekistan. He graciously attended to my queries helping me resolved the matter, and I still have his letters (in the days before computers were standard). I never hard of him further, only through Jens Nordlund, who was a friend of his, and that was years ago.

However, this mention goes to legacy, and forever any mention of Bukharen arms, bring the instant recollection of Torben Flindt.

The wonderful new platform has presented new opportunities which will go toward establishing the legacies of the weapons we have held and cherished, and in degree our own, for those intrepid researchers who will one day follow our paths.

Your words are beautifully spoken, and my congratulations in seeing one the wonderful examples you have had in your charge, and I look forward to more as I look forward to those of others being shared.

Thank you for posting this!!!!

Very best regards,
Jim