The purpose of this site is not just to make you spend hours on end surfing and downloading free pics we paid an arm and a leg for to acquire.
Our mission is to discover to you the true Secrets of the Sword.
Revealed today: How did cavalry troopers make sure their blades had a perfect edge? Continue reading
If your idea of fun is spending a morning rifling through 1,000 tables full of antique weapons, we have just the thing for you.
Like every year since 1955, the Maryland Arms and Armor Collectors Association is putting on its sale and trading show on March 17-18, 2012 in Timonium, just north of the Baltimore Belway.
We hope to see you there! Continue reading
Who’d possibly want a matched set of tin figures staging a Biedermeier-era Mensur?
Err… yes, who indeed. Possibly the same kind of person who has a sextett of Spelter and bronze fencing figurines staring at his desk?
This one we haven’t acquired—yet. But would accept it from our Leibbursch any time. Continue reading
Posted in 19th Century, fencing, fencing art, Schläger
Tagged Biedermeier Mensur, pewter figurines, Prestel, tin figures, Zinnfiguren Mensur
There’s no accounting for taste.
Two weeks ago, we alerted you to the opportunity of buying a sword once owned by the late Saddam Hussein.
The prices achieved on this auction have just been posted… Continue reading
Posted in 20th Century, Armory, Swords in the News, Weapons
Tagged Amoskeag Auction, auction, saddam sword
It’s all well and good reading the foreign imports of fencing and fighting manuals published in the United States in the 19th century. Especially the one or two stick and staff fighting books.
But the Yanks knew their way around a stick all by their lonesome.
Dashiell Hammett includes a great fight scene in his 1924 short story “Nightmare Town”… Continue reading
Based on the historical record, a duel with sharp épées was an unpleasant affair. Chances were that three feet of needle-pointed steel might transport you from the terrain to the Happy Hunting Grounds with considerable pain and suffering.
So who’re you to judge the little “trucs” that might get you a breather during your affair of honor… Continue reading
Posted in Images, 19th Century, 20th Century, Weapons, Epee, fencing
Tagged degen, Epee, escrime, epee fencing, french epee, duelldegen, la vie au grand air, epee duel, tactics, trucs, duel français, steampunk
A few weeks ago, we examined Eight Dueling Épées.
Today, we noticed a variant of one of the older specimens up for auction: A cousin of “The Transitional”… Continue reading
Who’d have thought that university archives would ever change their time-honored policy of keeping non-academic riffraff out of their collections—and even throwing their rara open to the Great Unwashed?
The Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, where I spent many a semester doing things other than visiting libraries, has recently put a copy of Salvatore Fabris’ “Italiänische Fechtkunst” online… Continue reading
Fencer’s Magazine: Can’t wait to see those at Nationals.
We have an idea: Please submit your own suggestion for the most ridiculous fencing-inspired garment you’ve come across—for a FencingClassics Cabinet o’Horror!
We’ve received a number of questions regarding the American “War of 1812″ saber we described in a previous posting.
Several inquiries touched on the valuation of a weapon like this.
We dug up a few references… Continue reading
Posted in Armory, Saber, Weapons
Tagged antique sword, Pattern 1796 Light Cavalry Sabre., sword valuation, war of 1812
Fencing Classics: The Art and Artifacts of Fencing and Dueling
