Blog

Back to the Point

Posted: 05/05/17 (13:37pm)

I'm back. We got back on the afternoon of the 3rd May feeling exhausted, dazed and confused. We had been traveling for almost 48 hours. We began with a 17 hour train journey from Varanasi to Delhi that was 7 hours delayed and left Varanasi at 2.37am, followed five hours after reaching Delhi by a flight to Schiphol which was followed by another from Schiphol to Edinburgh. With the time difference thrown in we felt like we were extras from the Walking Dead!
Two days later and we still feel far from rested. I guess it's going to take a couple of days to get back into the swing of things but I felt I should at least write my blog before carrying on with the "to do" mountain that seems to rise at an alarming rate whenever one goes away for any period.
I have been remiss in writing my blog and feel suitably guilty for it but I didn't really want to write about our holiday - it was after all, our holiday (and we had a fantastic time). I had expected to find plenty of wonderful and interesting items to buy and blog about but as it turned out, finding new stock was considerably harder than I had expected. I was a stranger in a strange land, totally without contacts or local knowledge. My attempts at recruiting local drivers and tour guides to assist in finding items was a waste of time as the vast majority of items I was shown were newly made "antiques" and the few genuine items were in such poor condition and with such high asking prices that I either wasn't interested or was unable to bring the price down low enough to make it worth while buying them. I even resorted to showing vendors my website so that they could see what price I was selling similar items for (and usually mine were in much better condition) in an attempt to reduce their asking price, only to be told on several occasions that I needed to put my prices up! Don't worry, I'm not going to do so. 
Another hurdle which I was unaware of prior to going was that exporting antiques of any kind from India requires a license. It's not hard to obtain but is time consuming.

Ultimately I bought very few items. My star buy, the 19th century Zulu Iklwa (which I bought during a 72 hour stop over in Amsterdam) turned out to be my first and biggest purchase and even that had a sting in its tail. The spear itself is absolutely genuine and without doubt a Zulu war bring back but it appears that the tip has been re-pointed. The purists would say it has been fiddled with; others might say that the missing tip was restored/repaired but either way it wasn't quite as I had perceived it to be in my rush to buy it.
To be fair, whoever did the restoration did a very good job as I didn't pick up on it until it was pointed out to me on Wednesday afternoon (after photographing it and recording its dimensions I wrapped it carefully and posted it home so didn't really spend too much time examining it in minute detail). The Iklwa is a fantastic piece and still one of the best I have owned but I'm not quite sure how I feel about the work that was done on it.
Would I have preferred it to have had a missing tip? Part of me says yes - it's part of its history, its story and I enjoy the misty eyed imaginings of how and when that may have happened. But another part of me is very happy with how it looks re-tipped, knowing that it was carried during the Zulu wars... I guess it comes down to individual taste.
Should the dealer in Amsterdam have told me about the restoration? On that front I have no doubt. Of course he should. I would still have bought it - maybe not for quite so much (I would certainly have tried to use the information to bargain the price down) but he didn't tell me and I didn't spot it so we are where we are. I am at least telling you.
In a few days I will get the Iklwa listed with close up images of the tip and you will be able to make an informed choice.
When all is said and done it is a great example of a Zulu War fighting Iklwa, it's age and history are without question and it will make a fine addition to any collection.
Ok, so I have a mountain of mail still to deal with, unpacking to finish and all the other chores that welcome one home from holiday so I'd best get doing. We'll chat again soon...