Ralph, Baz and Mikee,
Thanks for the veritable feast for the eyes!
Between the three of you, there's enough for a good sized museum... amazing! Outside of the Klingenmuseum in Solingen, I don't know where else a collector could see a finer assembly of
Hirschf�nger, and I'm not kidding. For that matter, one only gets to see a smattering of nice photos of these wonderful pieces here and there. Simply not enough!
To me these pieces represent a very important aspect of collecting German edged weapons. The hunting and forestry daggers are colorful representatives of the social fabric of earlier times and are inseperably bound to the very foundation of this fantastic hobby. Let's not forget that the Knight's Cross winners and all the other military heroes were products of a society that was very much bound to the land and preserving the old ways, the laws of nature.
I think that's part of why the German people respected and admired the American Indians so much, that close, respectful kinship a people has with the earth and her animals.
That ideology is really something amazing when one takes some time to think about it ...
Thanks to Manfred and Wotan for the great translations, too. Excellent, a great thread!
Bill
