Ending Shamshir Listing
 

Ebay has been a feeding frenzy lately. This is a perfect example. I see a decent old blade with a poorly executed rehilt and equally sorry silver (silver-alloy) work. The scabbard is new as well.

Seriously?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...7079&rd=1&rd=1

Seriously . :(
Whoever wants it the most pays the highest price; and there's a lot of money around. :shrug:

Hey I am no expert in this area but I spotted that it had been reworked right off the bat. I guess some people just have a lot of free cash these days to spend :shrug:

Lew

I guess the value of this Yataghan is in its blade: Turkish Ribbon. Not often does one see Damascus Yataghan blades.

It does look like a nice blade, but even the inlay looks like a recent "enhancement".

any reason why my response was deleted? all i said was ask the seller if there are any doubts about the specific sword he sold. wouldn't that be more logical than trying to guess if it was indeed a reworked sword?

No, it probably wouldn't.

Lopsided ears??


I believe the seller is a member here. Any response???? :confused:

also why was my response deleted???

Just to clarify,

I didn't mention this thread to debate whether the sword has been reworked. That's obvious. A blade of that quality with those kind of fittings would be like Michelangelo taking a dump on his "David" to put the finishing touch on it.

And I'm not criticizing the seller. Most sellers don't have that much information on an item's provenance to give details, so you have to let the pictures tell the story. The pics were very good and did that well. I've got over 400 (all positive) feedback on Ebay and that's how I buy and sell.

What I started this thread I was just noting that a sword like this would not have sold for more than $350 just a year ago. Now it's not unusual to see items like this hit close to $1000. That's great for sellers (including me). Not so great for buyers (including me).

No one should read anything more into the reason I started this thread. I don't know why any responses were deleted.

-d

That was what I understood your post to be Derek.
It's a statement/lament about the current market; nothing more. :)

derek,

i'm with you on your assessment; but to be clear, i wasn't responding or making a comment on your original post.

again, if there's any doubt, why not just ask the seller, who happens to be a member here, if he has any idea on the background of this specific sword. that would leave all the guesswork whether it was a rework or not. that is all... ;)

All it takes is one or two new collectors with deep pockets and not much knowledge to skew the sales on a specific item, especially if you have buyers who want to start collecting edged weapons but don't want to take the sort of plunge necessary to get involved with, say, high-end japanese swords. One can acquire beautiful, museum-quality yataghans for a fraction of the price one would pay for a comparable katana....

I met an old collector lately. His is stockbroker. His opinion is that prices are gone very high last years because there is cash available (not in my pocket :rolleyes: ). If something goes wrong with the market, he said, nobody will give a dollar for our fancy blades.

We agreed that collecting like investment is good profit but also high risk. It works only in shiny days and there is no umbrella for the rainy days. So, once again... CAVEAT EMPTOR :cool:

I am always puzzled at how fickle prices can be and how high some rather questionable pieces can go. Judgements of completeness, concepts of quality and rarity seem to have no relation some of the time. It does make me wonder how versed some of these buyers are, or do their hearts take over their eyes, minds and money. It can happen to us all :o .

I think one has to also remember that there is an emerging middle class in countries that never really had one before .
Some of these people will be collectors and are joining the consumer base for antique edged weapons; particularly from their own culture/s .

Just my 2 cents: If we'll think of antique edged weapons as of any other category of antique, we'll realize that it WILL appreciate with time. Anything of good quality and old WILL increase in value, and there Always be a market for it. There are no exceptions, and there Always be money for an original, well preserved and of good quality item. Period:-)

Also, Ariel: I do not see any Turkish Ribbon pattern on this blade. It's quite undefined.

Spunjer and mavi1970: I refer you to the following paragraph in the "Posting Guidelines" sticky thread:
I also refer you to the following paragraphs in the same post, and the highlighted passages in particular:

mark,


i see. i wasn't aware that my short and to the point response amounts to an editorial comment towards the seller. i was, in my whole heart, thought that instead of guessing whether the the specific sword was indeed a rework or not and in the process gives a fellow member a bad reputation of selling such a sword, why not ask the seller himself in order to clarify what really IS going on? i'm referring to this response, btw, just to be on the same sheet:

my thinking is, it's easy to guess, but much harder to confront the person himself or herself, reason why rumors is so prevalent in our society.

as for the rest of your response, mark, it never was my intention on debating your decision in regards to removing my post; again, there was no agenda behind when i ask why my post was deleted.

;)

Commodes? Carving knives? ;) Both probably worth considerably less than they did 100 years if one takes acount of inflation.

Spiral

It ALL depends on "rarity factor". A plain old commode can be found abandoned on the sidewalk. On the other hand, I am sure that complete, original and rare commodes are sold for many thousands, even considering inflation. Just look at the antique catalogues. Can not argue about Carving knives though - you have a point :)

mark,
my response was not directed at the seller either (who is a memeber), if the response i originally wrote was available, you would see it was directed at the reasoning why the item sold for as high as it did and the possible buyer.