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As you can see from the list below our site is very extensive and provides lots of very useful information to the collector/dealer. There is no bigger resource on the internet and contains more information than any single reference book. With the added benefit of being constantly updated and new examples/information being added daily there really is no better resource at your discposal.

Gallery - A gallery of official national patterns. Bigger than any reference book and constantly being updated we hold thousands of images and information on the official patterns used by armies the world over. An invaluable tool for identification. Currently we have listed over 300 official/government patterns from 21 different nations and growing daily.
Database - We have approx 55,000 images of over 6,500 items including over 700 different recognizable models/patterns. These can be searched using a variety of methods. You can search on physical attributes or keywords such as inscriptions or makers. Compare multiple examples of the same types to discover more detail or carry out research projects.
Makers - Details of thousands of makers and retailers across the world and throughout history. Including a method to identify a company from a partial name or address. This list holds, where available, links to examples, images of marks and fake marks, details of government contracts, proof marks and more.
Articles - We have compiled an extensive list of articles sourced from our own contributors and well respected publications. The articles cover a very wide variety of subjects and something of interest for everyone.
Fakes and Reproductions – As well as discovering fakes through the 'Makers' section. You can also perform a search in various ways to discover examples of fakes and reproductions.
Magazines/Journals – Lists of useful publications.
Places to Visit & Events – A 'clickable' map provides you with an easy way to discover places to visit to events around the world. This is constantly updated and is the largest such list on the internet. Very useful when visiting a city and wanting to know what is nearby of interest to the collector.
Experts – Ask the experts a question/or become one yourself.
Commercial Sites – Links to commercial sites of interest.
Information Sites – Links to other sites of interest to the collector.
Books/Reviews – As well as our excellent bookshop we also produce a bibliography of as many books on the subject as we are aware of. Find a book that may be of interest and if it has been reviewed see what others think. (or add a review yourself)
Terminology – Understand the terminology.
Sword Knots – What are the national patterns of sword knots used.
Wanted – Looking for something? Why not email us about it and we will add it to the list.
Mystery Items – Items that we havn't yet identified. Can you help?
Royal Cyphers – List of cyphers used by monarchs of various kingdoms. A great tool for helping to identify the history and date/nationality of items.
Symbols – Examples of symbology which can be used as an aid to identification. You can search for key words such as 'Sun', 'Castle', 'Eagle' etc and be shown examples of these and what they mean.
Books – We have our own bookshop with special prices agreed with many publishers/authors for the users of www.oldswords.com