Viribus Unitis (Austro-hungarian Sword)

Jim McDougall · 17th September 2012, 03:42 PM

Donny, that is exactly to attitude and approach that I sincerely wish was more prevalent in the world of arms collecting! The weapons are the sentinels of the history they have seen, and altogether too many simply match the weapon to a picture in a book, classify it, and hang it on the wall.
Well done!

As to how it ended up in Indonesia, there are many possibilities, but without sound provenance only speculations can be offered. Naturally with the profound trade internationally which focused on the East Indies, there are many situations involving diplomatic and trade relations, and probably circumstances which would align with the period of the sword. Then of course, an item might have simply been brought back by someone who had contact with another and acquired the sword as an item of interest or curiosity.
There are countless cases of items turning up in completely incongruent circumstances vast distances away, but the global nature of trade routes, travel and networking is by far not a modern phenomenon.
Whatever the case, it is a wonderful sword, and again, thank you for sharing it here.

All the best,
Jim

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17th September 2012, 03:42 PM	#8
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,192	Donny, that is exactly to attitude and approach that I sincerely wish was more prevalent in the world of arms collecting! The weapons are the sentinels of the history they have seen, and altogether too many simply match the weapon to a picture in a book, classify it, and hang it on the wall. Well done! As to how it ended up in Indonesia, there are many possibilities, but without sound provenance only speculations can be offered. Naturally with the profound trade internationally which focused on the East Indies, there are many situations involving diplomatic and trade relations, and probably circumstances which would align with the period of the sword. Then of course, an item might have simply been brought back by someone who had contact with another and acquired the sword as an item of interest or curiosity. There are countless cases of items turning up in completely incongruent circumstances vast distances away, but the global nature of trade routes, travel and networking is by far not a modern phenomenon. Whatever the case, it is a wonderful sword, and again, thank you for sharing it here. All the best, Jim