Taste and Collection

[RDGAC]

I've got more money than sense

In all seriousness, though, my proto-collection of (one, shortly to be two) jezails is probably the result of a lot of things. I've long had an interest in arms and their use, especially in warfare (as opposed to ceremonial uses, sparring, sport etc). My chosen higher education was in military history. I'd heard of the prowess of the Afghan guns of old, when I was much younger, but had largely forgotten about them (or rather, put it onto the back burners of my mind) until I actually had my hands on one at work.

Getting my grubby mitts on a jezail perhaps served to remind me of the sheer impressiveness of them. Big in proportions, heavy, often well decorated, and looking decidedly odd, they're naturally appealing to the eye; they stand out, in a manner only found among the more unusual products of industrialised arms manufacture, from the crowd. They're all individuals, too; every gun is unique. In many respects, they remind me more than a little of another love of mine, the steam engine in its many forms. "No two steam locomotives were ever alike" - so quoth a man who knew, and the same could be said of these fascinating, often deceptively finished machines.

Besides, imagine confronting a burglar with one of them...