Lew,
You might want to revisit:
the weirdest sword thread.
A lot of weapons are rarely or never used, and while we can talk about how deadly they are, their real function, measured day by day, is to sit around looking scary, or cool, or both.
As an example, the US has spent at least US $4 trillion into a nuclear weapons armory that does nothing but sit around looking scary, and everyone hopes the damned things never will get used, by any country.
This isn't a discussion about US foreign policy. Rather, it's an example. Weapons can be totally deadly, but that doesn't mean they get used at all. Why not decorate them?
Best,
F