Blunderbuss Gun And Sport Is Also A "Live" Museum

Yesterday afternoon I popped into the local arms and ammunition shop to see if they had any combat camo shorts. The pair I have at the moment have seen better days and I am always on the lookout for another pair. The majority of what is available is cheap Chinese garbage and I am after something that is decent quality and preferably original because at least you know they will at least last a good 10 years.

It turns out they had everything, but what I was looking for and had not been in this place for a good 15 years. This is what the owner calls a "living" museum where every item is available for purchase. This was actually quite impressive what the owner had collected over the years and needs to be revisited when I have some spare time.

I got the owners details as my brother who is in the UK is big into militaria and has a substantial sword collection of about 50 rare pieces. These are stashed all over his house wrapped in towels and even has a Romanian sword box dated from way back. This box has the slots where candles used to be placed to highlight the box contents so they were readily available when required.

We all know there are so many fakes or replicas today and reminds me of a story of a militaria collector in Reading, England. Reading was the home to the Royal Berkshire Regiment who saw action at the famous battle of Maiwand in Afghanistan back in 1880. This particular Regiment saw battle in the Far East as well and many of the soldiers lived in and around Reading and bought back with them many military souvenirs.

Just two months ago this collector came a cross a Japanese Samurai sword that was actually a special find. A vast majority of the collectables in the area are not fakes and are in fact genuine items and on this case he took a chance with a purchase after visiting a family at home looking to sell some pieces. These swords usually have the makers name somewhere on the handle once you start to take it apart and he found the makers markings on the inside where no one had known to look and the purchase price of $2k became a $30K piece with the makers mark.

My brother travels around Eastern Europe looking for the Holy Grail items and this is more than a hobby for himself as this is his passion. I would hate to know how much he has spent on his collection thus far which also includes arrow cases known as quivers back from medieval times and I am sure these are hard to find. from South African history he has picked up a Zulu Iklwa which is a spear and derives it's name from the sound it makes when withdrawing the spear for the victims wound. This was also found in the Reading area after the regiment had been part of the Zulu wars.

I am no collector as I have no clue what I am looking at and once I give my brother this persons details there may be a gem or two worth purchasing from this store or live museum. I noticed the owner had some genuine original "screaming eagle" 101 1st Airbourne jackets with patches and the patches on their own are worth up to $150 each. The jackets were only marked at $50 and could possibly be worth far more.

In the end a quick 5 minute look for a pair of camo shorts cost me an hour and I had not even looked properly and would need another 3 or 4 hours to look more carefully. I will end up going to a more commercial type retail outlet for the shorts, but this shop was fascinating. Next time when I visit I will take some photographs of all the various weapons that they have as I guess I would need permission to do so first.

Posted Using INLEO