I gottses cool schnitz

[B. de Corbin]

Those of you who have been around for a while know that I am an unrepetant capitalist. There is nothing I love more than finding intereting stuff and selling that stuff to people who will love it more than I do. What could be better? I enjoy the fun of the search, but don't clutter up my house with material possessions.

That being the case, I am working on another business enterprise where I will be selling not only the shnitz I make myself, but also the shnitz I've been hunting down. I was going to wait until my place of business is fully operational, but, the truth is, I'm getting such cool stuffs in that I want to start showing them off.

Since I am fond of weapons, much of what I have has a somewhat barbaric hitory, such as this Dayak headhunter's mandau from Borneo:

dyak-sword.jpg

Speaking of headhunters, a bit to the north of Borneo, in the Phillipines, the Igorot headhunters who were forced to end their sport began spending their time carving wood (weirdly, they specialize in carving heads because heads are still spiritually meaningful to them). Those cigar store indians famous from folklore were carved by the Igorot. Here's an Igorot carving I just got in:

dyak-carving.jpg

I also have a love of early technology. Unless you're into steampunk decor, this item may not seem interesting, but it is an outstanding piece of early 20th century experimental technology. It is called a "resistance box":

early-tech.jpg

I currently have boxes & boxes of similar stuff. If anybody is interested, I can show more of my weirdities.

[anubisa]

Re: I gottses cool schnitz

Very interesting. I definitely like the last piece, but all pieces are very cool.

[anunitu]

Re: I gottses cool schnitz

one thing i would love to see a real example of would be a German enigma machine used as a cyber machine to exchange coded messages during the second world war extremely rare now.

see here

[B. de Corbin]

Re: I gottses cool schnitz

one thing i would love to see a real example of would be a German enigma machine used as a cyber machine to exchange coded messages during the second world war extremely rare now.

see here

I currently have several Children of Dragon searching sunken German u-boats for one of these. When one turns up, I'll let you know.

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Very interesting. I definitely like the last piece, but all pieces are very cool.

That item is of the type that Edison's lads worked with while figuring how much juice to run through a lightbulb (back when incandescent bulbs were cutting edge technology).

[anubisa]

Re: I gottses cool schnitz

I currently have several Children of Dragon searching sunken German u-boats for one of these. When one turns up, I'll let you know.

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That item is of the type that Edison's lads worked with while figuring how much juice to run through a lightbulb (back when incandescent bulbs were cutting edge technology).

Very cool. I'd like to see more stuff like that.

[B. de Corbin]

Re: I gottses cool schnitz

Very cool. I'd like to see more stuff like that.

I have some tech in the dungeon that you may like. After I calm the shoggoths I'll voyage downward and bring something up.

In he meantime, how about a monkey bowl? In places where houses don't have closets, shelves, or drawers, one needs a place to keep one's stuff together. In the Phillipines you keep your stuff in a basket. This basket was most likely used to hold either shamanic impliments or tattoo eqipment:

monkey-bowl-a.jpg

Notice that it hase two compartments:

monke-bowl-b.jpg

monkey-bowl-c.jpg

This next piece is from the amazing Taureg warrior culture of the Saharan deep desert. If you've read or seen Dune, the Fremen (Free Men) are based on the Taureg.

"Taureg" is the term used for these people by outsiders and means something like "the lost ones," but hey refer to themelves as either "the free people" or "people of the blue tents" (the taureg are famous for their blue tents and for their blue facecoverings - worn only by men, NOT women. This all comes about because in the "Islamic Invasion" of the 6th-7th Centuries the Tsureg fled into the deep desert to avid forced conversion. The Taureg eventually converted to Islam, but they did it their own way.

Taureg men wear veils, not females. Property is passed down trhough the female line, not the male... because any taureg female who wants to A. divorce or B. have affairs, can so you can only be sure of the kid's mother. They have a strict caste system with "nobles" at the top, "warriors" next, followed by craftsman, then laborors.

Weirdly, the weapon makes exist ourside the caste system. The weapon makers use iron/steel, which the Taureg regard as "poisonous" since it is used for killing. The weapon makers speak their own language, and have the secret magic that allows them to safely handle iron, but this magic also places them outsid the normal caste system. It's kind of like if you need something made of plutonium you won't make it yourself because DANGER!, so you go to someone who has the skills to produce the item you need. You are grateful and appreciate the skills of the makers, but you don't want to associate with them because they may have plutonium all over them.

Notice on this wealthy warrior's dagger (about 15 inches from end-to-end) their is a brass decorative strip just after the handle so that, if the warrior wants to hook his finger around the guard for greater point control he won't touch iron.

taureg-dagger.jpg

[Juniper]

Re: I gottses cool schnitz

That's a lot of neat schnitz

[B. de Corbin]

Re: I gottses cool schnitz

That's a lot of neat schnitz

But wait! There's more! These just came in yesterday!

(I am constantly amazed by the things people throw away. Kool for me, though. Silly humans!)

American viewers might be especially interested in these - they relate to important American historucal events.

Let's start with the Civil War. Here we have a light calvery saber (I think - I need to do some quick research to be sure) marked Henry Bokor, Solingen.

civ.war.0.jpg

civ.war.1.jpg

The grip, which should be leather wrapped wood with a wire binding, has been replaced. Also, the blade is dark, although it is still in excellent condition.

This next piece dates back to the time of the American Revolution, and it is authentic, but it has some unique characteristics that I have never seen, or even heard of before, making this a very interesting collector item. Let me show it to you and then I'll point out the weirdness:

rev.jpg

You want to take a close look at the knuckle bow and handguard. These are ALWAYS made of either cast brass (all in one piece) OR forged from solid steel or hammer welded. This one (again, this is super, super weird) is held together together with machine screws that are screwed in, then peened on the backside to keep them from coming loose.

rev.war.1.jpg

rev.war.jpg

So unusual that I have to have this one appraised. I have no idea how to calculate value for something utterly unique. Somebody back in the day commissioned a special sword, or a highly talented blacksmith/machinist made this to show off.

I'll be back with the interesting tech I promised, but I have to shoot a quick video 'cause the thing I want to show isn't nearly as impressive standing still as it is in operation...

[anunitu]

Re: I gottses cool schnitz

you B.D. are def the master of stuff!

[Hawkfeathers]

Re: I gottses cool schnitz

Really neat stuff you've got there!

[Juniper]

Re: I gottses cool schnitz

Spiffy schnitz even!