Weapons: The Ziegenhainer Walking Stick

Apart from a few late imports, wooden staves or sticks disappear from the printed instructional record of 18th- and 19th-century German martial arts literature.

There’s only one example of a wooden weapon being used in a more or less organized combative context in the early 19th century:

The Ziegenhainer walking stick. 

And even this leaves something to be desired…

Weapons: The Subtlety of the Modern Sports Sabers

Collectors of modern sports weapons face a bit of a dilemma. It’s almost impossible to tell a piece of recent scrap metal found in the back of the club armory from a weapon with at least budding historical value.

Luckily, some old fencing equipment catalogs provide a clue at dating and contextual placement. Like the 1938 catalog of Vince Fencing Equipment, Inc., which provides some clues to early sports sabers…

Sword Shows: See you at the Timonium Cow Palace

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!

Antique Weapons Update: Saddam’s Sword Sold

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…

Current Auction: Another “Transitional”

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”…

Follow-up: 1796-Pattern American Saber

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…