Hello I'm IPostSwords, and I'm an antique sword collector. I own items as old as
1600 and made by famous blacksmiths like assad allah, out of rare steels like
wootz crucible steel. But today's video isn't about that as you might have noted
by the title. Today is about a rather sad story of when I lost a 200 year old
French antique cavalry saber. Now, this wasn't just any French cavalry saber. It
was for an officer and it was beautiful - it featured a brass grip with a wire
wrapped leather hilt and it had a beautiful blue and gilt blade. it was in
pretty good condition considering it was from around 1799, at the end of the
directoire art period, and into the French Revolution and was probably carried by a
Napoleonic cavalry officer. It had a unique and interesting set of design
features which hearken to the fact that it was probably custom ordered for a
specific officer through a fourbisseur, or outfitter. This officer would have had
his own history, his own story, and would have been to a collection of battles
throughout his career. And I lost that sword. More specifically, a postal service
lost that sword on my behalf and here's how it happened.
This was still early in my collecting career when I didn't have quite as much
experience or anywhere near as many swords as I do now and I made the huge
and monumental mistake of sending it through a national postal carrier. I
purchase the sword at auction at fair market rate and of course I sent the sword for
insured airmail to me in Australia from where I purchased it in Europe. The
purchasing insurance on a package only gives you the monetary value if it goes
missing and of course, this package did. The tracking showed that it disappeared
right after it passed customs at the country where I'd initially sent it from.
It boarded a plane, no idea which, and has never been seen since. It's now been over
two years since that sword first passed customs and I have no idea
where it is. I settled the insurance claim with the
Postal Service with which I sent it and recovered the monetary value of the
sword however the monetary value of an antique
sword can never come close to replacing the historical value of any one object.
While you might find another identical example it's going to have a different
condition and will probably have some slightly different features on it but
most importantly it's going to have a different history. Each antique sword
inherently has its own story in this case who owned it who it was made by
where it served and if it was even carried on notable battlefields in the
Napoelonic war. This was a beautiful sword and I wish I could have held it but
instead I'm standing here holding a cheap reproduction which approximates
the style of the sword, but is nowhere near the actual thing. The overall
message of this video is always send your antiques for a registered courier
so that you can ensure that those antiques get from where they're going to
your front door and into your hands without any package thievery along the
way. Because there is nothing worse than losing a historical item you know you
will never be able to replace.
I hope you didn't enjoy this video because I really
didn't enjoy the experience, but I do hope this cautionary tale will lead you
to be smarter than I was in my early days.
That's all I've got for you today
until next time stay sharp