Post Your Latest Acquisition here...

[Gavin Nugent]

Originally Posted by asomotif

Weakens your budget, unless you are a king

Damn right there, my budget is very weak now

My thanks to a quiet member for helping me obtain this example.....hmmmmm gold

Gav

[A.alnakkas]

Amazing ! congrats Gav. Is it wootz?

[Gavin Nugent]

Originally Posted by A.alnakkas

Amazing ! congrats Gav. Is it wootz?

G'day Lofty,

No wootz but a very fine patterened blade. E.Astvatsaturyan shows a small line drawing of the same pattern in the work on Caucasian arms. The steel quality is amazing, extreme gratitude to he who made this available to me.

Gav

[Spunjer]

Wow, that's a beauty, maurice! Love the inlay work!
I think what Bill meant was the belief in old Mindanao, not necessarily Islam in general even at that point in time...

[RDGAC]

My latest purchase - and not at all an inexpensive one. EIC lock, locally converted to percussion; silver inlaid barrel with cannon-form muzzle. Good, solid stock. Weighs a fair bit. Woven, multi-strand, hessian rope sling. Bloody beautiful old girl!

[chregu]

hello together
These are the latest achievements of the past week.
regards Chregu

[ThePepperSkull]

Last acquisition for a while. While biased in my preference towards older Sulu blades, I've found a new respect and admiration for the larger, broader pieces from Mindanao.

I've always wanted a straight Maranao battle piece ever since I saw Ferguson and Bill Marsh's collections of kris a few years ago on another forum. This one's a little more ornate than other ones I have seen, which are usually very spartan in the use of metal fittings and have some sort of rattan wrap or non-laquered jute wrap instead of the black laquered wrap that this one has.

Despite this, it does still seem like a very powerful, no-nonsense Kris.

Got it for what I consider a very reasonable price. Can't wait to handle this in person. If anyone has anything to add, I would be very appreciative. What social standing did the original owner belong to? etc etc.

[DanielUka]

Originally Posted by freebooter

Damn right there, my budget is very weak now

My thanks to a quiet member for helping me obtain this example.....hmmmmm gold

Gav

AMAZING !! very beautiful weapon ! where did you find it ?

[David R]

These have just arrived. To be frank, when I bid on them I neither expected nor particularly wanted to get them. It was an experiment to see what would be accepted as a bid from the UK, ...and I won,... and they are here. So what have I got? Coming from China........they are slightly different from the posted vendors photo, one of them has a tang 27 cm 10.5 ins long but otherwise just as described and shown, width from barb to barb 5 cm on one and just under that on the other.

[Timo Nieminen]

Originally Posted by David R

These have just arrived. To be frank, when I bid on them I neither expected nor particularly wanted to get them. It was an experiment to see what would be accepted as a bid from the UK, ...and I won,... and they are here. So what have I got? Coming from China........they are slightly different from the posted vendors photo, one of them has a tang 27 cm 10.5 ins long but otherwise just as described and shown, width from barb to barb 5 cm on one and just under that on the other.

Modern, and an attempt at a replica of bronze Chinese arrowheads, Shang, Zhou, through to Warring States style. Most Chinese heads had relatively short tangs, but long tangs were used too. Also socketed heads, especially in Qin and Han. After that, iron/steel heads rather than bronze.

"Attempt" I say, since these are huge compared to the usual long-tanged Chinese bronze arrowheads. And very fat, too. The long 25cm or so ones are usually thinner, with much smaller blades. So, these look like the maker got the size very wrong. Perhaps these should be about 10-12 cm long?

I don't recognise what particular heads these are meant to be copies of, so can't check what the original size was.

These are usually brass, rather than bronze like the originals. The quality of the modern copies (not just of arrowheads, but spears, axes, swords, ge) varies a lot. Some are quite nice.

[David R]

I am Not disappointed, as I did not expect them to be genuine, and the price was silly low, with free shipping an' all. In fact I don't see how they made anything on the deal. I am now torn between keeping them as a curiosity, or selling them at the next "Steampunk" fair with an outragous and tongue in cheek "backstory", (while making it clear they are modern).
They served their purpose as a test, I now know I can buy spear and arrow heads internationaly via ebay. Pity is I am put off buying anything from China, even passing up on a WW2 militia spearhead at a decent price, because of the likelyhood it was a more recent fake.
On another note, I just won these off ebay from Japan. Shabby, and so not desirable to the higher end collector, but interesting to me. And will go nicely with the yari.

[Stan S.]

Hey David, are those leggings or sleeves?

[David R]

They are a sleeve,Kote, I think for the lower arm, ie back of the hand to the elbow, of a type called Han-gote or possibly Tekoh. (6)
The Edo period was generaly peacefull, with feuds, policing and piracy rather than war, so real combat armour tended to be light raiders stuff. Full armours were made but as ceremonial stuff not functional. I am hopefull these are examples of the lightweight gear. And if not, heh, no matter. Shipping is costing more than the bid, the total about what I pay for second hand Kimono.