[Jim McDougall]

EXCELLENT TOPIC!!!!!
And well posed question, very glad you are with us Panzerraptor !

Collectors are truly a breed unto themselves, and quite honestly, everyone collects for their own reasons and based on their own interests and passions...which easily become obsessions. You could not have come to a better place to ask this, as here there are legions of well seasoned and incredibly knowledgeable participants.

While I am personally a historian and researcher, I did collect for most of my life (I am now 70), so can truly say I have studied arms and their histories for over 50 years. That being the case, I can also say, I feel as though I have barely scratched the surface of the amazing stories these weapons have to tell.

As a young collector I could not afford the high quality and condition of many weapons, and usually ended up with well worn, rough quality items usually passed over by collectors. This served me perfectly, as I wanted to learn FROM the weapons, and discover who used them, where might they have been, why were there certain features as opposed to others?

If you use the search feature here on our forum, you will find amazing discussions where these kinds of details were shared and learned...I have always been proud of the things we all learned TOGETHER here. I have written here as many have for nearing 20 years....so imagine the archives we have compiled!

For example.......you mention the flyssa......an absolutely fascinating form, and classic example of the quintessant representation of a culture....the Kabyles tribes of Berbers in Algeria. What was discovered in our research on these years ago was that the form itself probably evolved from Ottoman yataghans of earlier form with straight, deep bellied blade . The earliest positive reference we have to a 'flyssa' was 1827, but the term was not coined until around that time (French term referring to the Iflisen tribe who was early aligned with these). The earliest example I found was provenance from c 1857 from capture in campaign in French Foreign Legion museum.

Therefore, while not necessarily 'old' chronologically, this sword is perfectly representative of a key ethnographic form, and 'of the type' used by the Kabyles in their conflicts with French colonial forces.

In many cases ethnographically, tribal peoples and many cultures still value the forms of weapons they have used traditionally for many years, often centuries. So will we see these often 'modern' weapons produced by these people as reproductions, or fasified? Not always, though many are indeed produced to satisfy the desire for souveniers.

For a sword enthusiast, who studies the actual use and methods of swordsmanship involved with these weapons, a collection might include both vintage and modern examples.

For purists who assemble only vintage examples to display the various forms in associated groupings and variations, they would abhor the idea of modern reproductions naturally.

For historians, myself included, we cannot gain any knowledge from that aspect from a modern weapon, as we look for answers in patination, markings of the times, damage or alterations which might have resulted during certain historic events, influences reflecting changes in the culture or context regionally by intertribal, colonial or other incursion etc.
Therefore, reproductions or modern copies null those purposes.

My advice to any new collector, and for me it is most exciting to welcome you and all who enter these ranks, is emphatically:
The most important weapon you will collect, is knowledge!
Study, learn, remember......then buy.

Follow your heart and your own passions and interests in deciding what will be part of your holdings, collect for yourself.....not others.

Never restrain from asking questions, or sharing thoughts or ideas, especially here . There is merit in every one of them, in one degree or another. We are all a team, and the goal is to learn.

Thank you for asking this one!!!

Well done!

Jim