Some swords are worthy of note on account of their shape and age, but others claim attention by reason of their historical associations. In the Royal United Service Museum there are many that are worth seeing from the latter point of view. One in particular may be mentioned. The exhibit bears the following inscription: "Sword of Admiral Villeneuve, Commander-in-Chief of the combined fleets of France and Spain, surrendered to Lord Collingwood at the battle off Cape Trafalgar, October 21, 1805. It was offered to Captain Atcherley, of the Marines. Atcherley refused to accept it, and took Villeneuve in his boat that he might surrender to Captain Pellew. Admiral Villeneuve, having been taken prisoner, was sent to England, where he was detained until May 3, 1806." * * * * * Beyond firearms and swords the collector may find many treasures among such weapons as daggers, bayonets, lances, battle-axes, pikes, spears, boomerangs, assegais, and native clubs. It should always be remembered, however, that the weapons used by British forces, past and present, are of more interest and value than those coming from savage races. CHAPTER VII EARLY BRITISH WAR MEDALS How to arrange a collection of medals--Factors which influence the value of a medal--The earliest medals--The first English medal--The first English military medal--The Forlorn Hope medal--The Dunbar medal--The Culloden medal--Medals granted by the Honourable East India Company--The Pope's medal, 1793--The Emperor Francis II of Germany's medal, 1794--The Seringapatam medal--The Egyptian medal, 1801--The Rodriguez medal--The Nepaul medal--The Maida medal--The Peninsular officers' medal The dignity which enshrines a collection of war medals is something greater and fuller than that which can be ascribed to almost any other branch of curio collecting. Coins, china, furniture, and prints are all fascinating in their way, but none seem to have the same depth of interest as is possessed by the average collection of war medals. To handle one of these tokens of strife and bloodshed is to call up feelings of reverence and honour for the man who spent his energies so freely in earning it, and it is probably on account of this extrinsic quality that war medals are so highly prized among connoisseurs. With many forms of collecting, the different specimens that are available are so numerous as to be overwhelming, but this drawback cannot act as a deterrent to the would-be medal collector. British medals have been fashioned with a sparing hand, and their number is more or less limited. Many of them, it is true, are extremely costly, whilst a select few are quite prohibitive in price--a matter which, perhaps, adds to the zest of collecting.