The German military has, since Fredrick the Great, always been one to innovate the way soldiers operate in the field and what they use out there.  From Frederick’s own idea of using rendered grease and fat to coat soldier’s feet instead of socks to prevent painful blisters, to the ways to which soldiers protected themselves in combat.  The German WWII Helmet is one such innovation.  Its origins stem from just before the First World War, when German field commanders realized that the most lethal military weapon in warfare, other than the mind, as Rambo said, was field artillery.  Artillery was, and still is called the King of Battle because of how much damage it can do, and principally the helmet was designed to keep shrapnel from impacting the skull and damaging the brain.  Prior to the steel helmet, soldiers went around wearing elaborate caps to differentiate who they were, but field artillery relegated that into obsolescence out of necessity. Other nations such as Britain and France came up with their own designs, but the German design was so good because it protected the entire head and covered the ears, and it was machine stamped so that factories can put out hundreds of them a day.  They were so good that it became adopted by the US military and militaries around the world still use its design to this day.  To any collector and military history enthusiast WWII Helmets are a welcome addition to an arsenal of swords and other weapons and armor, being no less important as the Roman Lorica or the Grand Armee’s backpack. 

Swords get all the glory.  And why not?  They’re elegant. They look cool.  They’re deadly.  But they’re also expensive; only the best blacksmiths were able to make swords that wouldn’t fall apart on you in combat.  What’s more, it took years of practice to be good at wielding one, which most soldiers just didn’t have time for.  This meant only a select group of combatants, namely the knights and the nobility, were wielding swords.  But for some, the hassle of putting up with this weapon was too much, especially when there were other medieval weapons that were just as effective and far cheaper.  In fact, against armored foes bludgeoning weapons often proved more effective than swords because they battered the enemy down, wearing away his strength, potentially inflicting crushing damage from direct force transferring through the solid armor rather than being diffused about.  Maces and hammers like the 16^th Century German Mace were very inexpensive, often made by apprentice and journeyman blacksmiths, and they required less training to use.  Just swing at the head, the chest, the knees and the groin and even against a foe decked out in plate-mail from head to foot he is going to feel it.  The flanges on the mace could even penetrate the armor, causing serious damage.  Imagine being hit somewhere by the peen side of a ball-peen hammer, and you’ll get an idea of what it might feel like being battered by such a weapon.  Cheap and effective, the mace was often a spare weapon for knights and soldiers in case they lost their primary weapon in combat.

Sometimes when it comes to firearms there’s something to be said for pure intimidation and reputation.  The Cogswell Pepperbox Percussion Pistol certainly had both, but neither for anything anyone might consider positive.  Mark Twain stated in his book Roughing It that the only safe place around a pepperbox was right behind it, because of the fact that this weapon had the unsavory tendency to be inaccurate even when it worked properly.  Because it was a percussion cap weapon, that meant you had to load powder down the barrels, which in a more reliable design was satisfactory.  However, this lead to another nasty reputation of the effect of more than one, or all six barrels going off at once. It was a veritable, directional claymore mine in the palm of your hand.  When folks produced this weapon, other folks naturally found cover because there was no telling where those bullets would go once discharged.  For the weapons collector the Pepperbox would be a marvelous keepsake to display along with swords and other western replica pistols.  One look at this might immediately conjure up imagery from such classic westerns as Rooster Cogburn, where Marshal Cogburn gives Wolf, a young Indian, a Pepperbox to defend himself at night with.  Or he might remember Mark Twain’s famous saying about it.  Either way he’ll want to touch it just to be able to say he had.  It’s a part of firearms history that tried to be a revolver, but succeeded at being something else entirely.

When Tony Stark was held captive by terrorists at the behest of the Iron-Monger, he was forced to build them one of his latest weapon systems, the Jericho.  Instead, Stark used the isolation he was able to get from them to build a miniature version of his energy reactor, and then to build the prototype to what would become his Iron-Man suit.  He was able to devastate his captors and nearly wipe them out with a new, revolutionary weapon the likes of which has never been seen.  While this may be sci-fi superhero fiction, believe it or not the use of powered armor might just be around the corner.  Even now there are experiments in the use of exoskeleton suits for infantry to help them carry heavier loads longer and further than they ever could on their own.  The new Land Warrior system for elite infantry allow them to instantly communicate with their chain of command and see the entire battlefield to allow them to coordinate their attack with other units in such precision and capability unheard of in the history of warfare.  Possessing the Iron Man Helmet – Silver prototype not only pays homage to a favored superhero, along with other Iron Man replicas, but is a keen reminder where we might be going.  We’ve come a long, long way from swords at this point, and who knows just what’s around the corner.  If so, this could be the most radical innovation since the advent of the Tank or the Airplane on the battlefields of World War I. 

There are a lot of myths and legends surrounding the Japanese ninja.  They were said to be able to disappear in plain sight, breathe for long periods of time underwater, and scale sheer cliffs on their own.  Among other things, they were also said to change into animals and move so silently that not even a sparrow would be able to notice their presence.  While the latter may be superstitious fantasy no doubt spread by the ninja themselves, a lot of the legends of their capabilities may have some element of truth to them.  Ninja were eminently practical because they had to be, and in order to move into an area with stealth and be able to infiltrate a location, they needed tools that, in the eyes of a common peasant or samurai unused to such tactics, might seem quite magical.  Take the Ninja Grappling Hook.  Today we might look at this simple device and not give it any attributes to magic, but in the hands of a sixteenth century ninja this device would make it look like no sheer wall was beyond the ability of a ninja to scale.  Black so as to better blend in during a night operation, this grappling hook is quite typical of the kinds of equipment in addition to swords and other ninja weapons they would take on their assigned missions. The emphasis of the ninja was stealth, not the flashy swordsmanship and combat prowess seen in modern cinema, and grappling hooks and other equipment was meant both for their practicality and the fact they were quite easy to come by. 

The Roman Square Pilum was one of the main weapons of the Roman legionnaire.  Every legionnaire was equipped with one or more of these deadly javelins.  During a battle, as the legions would approach the enemy, just before they got into close, hand-to-hand combat, the Romans would throw these pilum at them.  Naturally they’d like it if they killed or grievously wounded that nasty Gaul coming at them, but what they were particularly going after were their shields.  These Roman weapons were made of soft form of bronze that intentionally bent.  When they hit an enemy’s shield, it would bend, making it difficult to remove, and multiple pilum doing this to a shield would render it useless, and that was the point.   If the enemy is trying to yank a pilum out of his shield, he’s not swinging a sword at you and he’s vulnerable to your own attack, all the while you’ve got the advantage of a shield of your own.  Combat tactics such as these, and combined with the innovations in Roman logistics that created a uniform kit of pilum, swords, and armor, made the Roman legions the most feared and eventually the most powerful in the world for a number of centuries before their enemies began adopting such tactics to their own armies.  Having a number of these magnificent weapons in one’s collection will certainly draw a lot of attention and will please any guest who appreciates history and ancient weapons, not to mention having some bragging rights by saying you actually own them. 

As a weapons collector, you should consider the historical and logistical significance of the Roman gladius.  This, and other Roman weapons and equipment, were part and parcel of why the Roman Legions managed to conquer most of Europe and all around the Mediterranean.  As you know, most legionnaires were issued this, but what you might not realize is that many armies, particularly in Celtic Europe, didn’t bother giving armies standard issue anything. Most soldiers were responsible for bringing their own kit and food, and often ended up foraging off the land, off the enemy and even sometimes their own people.  By creating a “uniform” of equipment for each Roman soldier, such as giving out swords like the Gladius – The Pompeii, the Legions were able to achieve several breakthroughs.  They made it very easy to equip their armies, since everyone had the same thing, all that manufacturers back in Rome had to do was continue making a particular set of them. It uniformed training, so that it took less time to train the legions. These, in turn, enabled commanders like the legendary Marius to develop new, fluid tactics that would sharpen the effectiveness of the Legions in combat, revolutionizing warfare to such a degree that they would influence military forces in Europe and beyond for centuries to come. The Gladius was effective because it was simple; it was a short sword that was used principally for stabbing, since a good stab was a more effective way to kill than a slash, and that’s important if you’re trying to get through a battle because you need to take down your enemy quickly.  The Roman gladius served this role well in their tactics in the Legions for centuries as a result.