SPANDAU BALLET

[Lee]

Back before there was a forum component on this site - just over a quarter of a century ago - I wrote this:

Ethnographic arms and armour describes weapons and combat protective devices other than the standardized military models of the past few centuries and is likely a product of an individual artisan working according to traditional patterns as opposed to a product of modern mass industrial production. Militaria is thereby excluded by our definition. While modern custom work would qualify as an artifact of our own culture under this definition, such items are not considered here, as they are better represented elsewhere.

My attitude has not changed. I did and do acknowledge that the interests of the forum community that developed would not be constrained by my arbitrary definitions and would be as irregularly broad as are my own interests. The Miscellanea section was later added to accommodate discussions of other artifacts specifically of the cultures that created the edged weapons primarily considered here, acknowledging these broader interests. I have tolerated occasional diversions into militaria as I understand that the interests of many of us do extend into that realm, but such materials and discussions lie outside of the intended focus of this project.