Wow, excellent discourse so far. It is great to see how so many of us have wound up here in this place. Figure its my turn to share, and so I will combine questions 1 and 2.
Even though I was raised in the US, I grew up with bolo around the house. Some of my fondest memories of family, was every spring the old worn out bolo would come to be used in the yard. When I was between 10-12 that bolo became mine, as my father felt that knife collecting was a good hobby for a child. However, being in MN bolo were hard to find, so my interest turned to more generic machine made knives, and the oggling of 440 stanless pieces at the mall. Though through it all, that rusty little bolo was still the best knife I had. Well, then came the teenage years, and the interest in edged weaponry shifted to guitars and girls
Stopped collecting, and all the blades were left to the dustbunnies in a chest. After a tumultuous period in life, and the advent of the internet the idea of getting back into a more healthful (comparatively) hobby came back. Getting back into collecting blades was more of a way to get back in touch with older childhood interests in the hopes of forgetting more adult vices. Anyways, with the net came oodles of exposure to possibilities of weapons purchases. Bolo were always of interest, but mainstream European and Japanese blades seemed to hold the fancy. But lo and behold, even modern traditional reproductions were well out of my price range. Then I started to hear more about the weapons of the Philippines, and that there were more than just bolo. So I started to stumble out onto Ebay, and pick up pieces here and there. However, these were mostly dissappointing tourist pieces, that were obviously not traditional. Then I found this forum, and the idea to start researching so that I wouldnt get ripped off was firmly implanted by Rick, Zel, and Jose. However, I had not yet fully embraced the idea of being a purely ethnographic collector. I had still hoped to find good modern reproductions. Anyways, the more I collected, the more I found that the cost of even the most high end ethno piece, was usually a fraction of what a mid-grade custom reproduction would cost. Also, the weapons that had always meant something to me (and the only ones I kept from my earlier knife collecting stage) were weapons that were made with an intention, good or bad. They were grounded in a living culture/tradition and made to work. They were not just some irrelevant piece of art, but had meaning that went beyond the aesthetic in their creation. Soon, I started to get an affinity for these pieces beyond material culture, as in research I began to delve more and more into the history/culture of the people who reproduced them Given the large amount of ethnographic pieces, I decided to limit my research to the Sandata. I figured Id rather be a specialist, than a jack of all trades that is master of none. Also, being a lonely pinoy stranded in Nordic country, it felt good to connect to a past cultural history, and to finally be proud of my ancestors after so many years of being told that Western Civilization was the epitome of progress. The more I researched and collected, the more I started to let go of an empirical mode of thought, and began to connect to pieces on a more gut/spiritual level (I normally do not discuss this aspect of my collecting habit/research). Particularly through the guidance of Mabagani, these pieces no longer became objects to hang on a wall, but once again gained life as tools to connect to the past through the living practice of Filipino Martial Arts. Anyways, I will admit this, I do like all ethnographic weaponry, and my collection is not limited to the Sandata. There are even a few dha in the mix
However, not knowing enough about other ethnographic pieces, I am more wary about placing $$$ on something that I know little about. So if its not for cheap, itll have to wait till I win the lottery and can afford to buy from a reputable dealer.
As for question 3, I can only second the suggestion to go through past keris/kris threads. There are so many different theories, depending on the culture that produced the specific keris/kris, that it is really impossible to essentialize the matter into a simple answer, not to mention the fact that I am already rambling like crazy.
Question A, B, C.
Unfortunately my experience of with others views of my collection have tended to be on the negative. I have had some quite dramatic reactions from people (including my own sister) who feel that any weapon (be it a gun, knife, or sword) is inherently evil, and that my ownership and interest of such a weapon by means of association means that somehow I am to be viewed as a inherently violent and evil person. If I am lucky, I will occaisionally get the laughing ambivilence, but this has not been the majority of my experiences with the non-initiated. Anyways, usually I can calm things down by bringing up that this collection is not a means for me to express some macho sexist tendency, but rather an attempt to preserve and appreciate a dying cultural legacy that has far deeper meanings than the mere material nature of its presentation.
Anyways, as for whether swords inhabit a cultural-ghetto, I would say in larger Western high culture society, yes. In this realm, along with any other weaponry, they represent a past that is desired to be forgotten. A relic of days when institutional safety was not as strong, and further still they inspire a deeper sub-conscious realization that those days were not too far gone in the past, they reveal the thinness of the fabric that we call civilization. In more popular culture, swords are lost in the media jungle of Nascar, WWE wrestling, and American Idol.