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 Replies: 19 / Views: 1,833 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7066 Posts |
I recently decided to form a new, minor, and modest collecting subset of ancient and medieval European iron weaponry. This subset will be slowly developed, with pieces added only during lulls in my main collecting areas. While I've done a fair amount of research into the Early Iron Age weaponry of Western Asia, and am reasonably good at attributing that material, I am nearly clueless where ID'ing European weapons is concerned. In addition, I hesitate to put much trust in some sellers' attributions, for whom the fallback is often "Roman" or "Viking". In some cases, I've been able to confirm seller's listings by finding some online references. In other cases, not so much. But that's fine. I'm not inclined to do much research with this low-tier collecting area. I'm just picking up occasional pieces that seem mildly interesting and affordable. In most cases I am content to broadly designate a pickup as "ancient to medieval Europe" and leave it at that. When I can get more specific, great. But I'm not losing sleep over pieces I cannot pin down tighter. Although I have another piece enroute, here's the humble start of this new collecting avenue: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/g...p?album=7802 |
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Moderator
 United States
34402 Posts |
@bob, perhaps "modest" in your eyes, and certainly no match for your Western Asia group, but this looks pretty impressive to me. Well done!
"If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
7066 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
1168 Posts |
I agree with @Spence, Bob, as the group looks pretty impressive to me as well. Through your articles on weaponry and your galleries I am seeing and learning about things that I would not normally be aware of. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and research.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7066 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
 Spain
2752 Posts |
Very nice Bob Superb photography you can really zoom into the examples.  Do you treat the iron pieces with anything to reduce the risk of rust? |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7066 Posts |
Thanks, Paul. No, I'm not treating or cleaning these. Of course I've got silica gel desiccants in the display cases to help keep the humidity down. But that's all I'm doing for now.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4964 Posts |
That's a interesting little collection Bob, the "swallowtail" arrowhead is very cool.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7066 Posts |
Thanks, Chris. Always so nice to see you posting.
Yes, that arrowhead is neat - and nasty!
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
25150 Posts |
Bob, very impressive collection! Thank you for expanding my horizons. One thing that we lose sight of in our modern world is how much effort was required to manufacture these items back then. For instance, something such as your Iron Spearhead #2 (wicked!) required many hours of skilled labor plus support staff.
Inordinately fascinated by bits of metal with strange markings and figures
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7066 Posts |
Thanks, HB. Quote:
One thing that we lose sight of in our modern world is how much effort was required to manufacture these items back then.  |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
9159 Posts |
Very nice collection, I always like reading your items from ancient times.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7066 Posts |
Thanks. I appreciate the comment.
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Moderator
United States
23731 Posts |
Excellent pieces Bob, The Oakshott collection of medieval weapons is an excellent reference.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11880 Posts |
Thanks for sharing your treasures with us. For me coin collecting is about handling artifacts from our past first hand. Learning about our physical world constraints and how we used human ingenuity to transcend them to make our lives better. Still goes on today, but it happens at the level that it happens today because we stand on the shoulders of giants. The bronze age, the iron age were all technological advancements that shaped civilizations and daily lives. Great to have someone as knowledgeable as you presenting these important examples of thoughts turned into objects that changed the course of humanity.
IN NECESSARIIS UNITAS - IN DUBIIS LIBERTAS - IN OMNIBUS CARITAS THE MAN IN THE ARENA, Theodore Roosevelt at the Sorbonne Paris on April 23, 1910: " It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." My coin website: https://fairfaxcoins.com |
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Moderator
United States
188213 Posts |
Well done. |
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Replies: 19 / Views: 1,833 |
Posted 11/06/2022 7:25 pm
