Joe,
You should know better than to count on the intimidation factor of a knife.
We're not talking here about the average criminal. If I were a non-average criminal and became aware of a house with a substantial collection of valuable whatever, I'd watch for a couple of days, get to know the routine, which car you drive, what lights you leave on, do you have a cleaning service, etc. Then, I'd put together a Federal Express envelope with a catalog from some company in it, dress in my best Fed Ex uniform, and ring your bell. If you answer, sword and all, I'd say, "Hello, delivery for you." You'd say, "How curious, I don't recall requesting this catalog. Maybe my wife did. Thank you." And that'd be it. But, if there's no answer, then I'll signal my gang we're going in. Unless you're home 24/7, if they want your collection, they'll get it.
A couple of years ago, a friend of a friend, who I met once, had a very bad incident. He was a very wealthy man, a well-known doctor, a Ham radio operator which is how I met him, and also a collector of rare coins, most of them gold coins. His house had an elaborate, professional security system, real locks on the doors, etc., of course.
He and his wife enjoyed the symphony and had season tickets. They usually went out for dinner before the concert too. On the evening of one concert, their daughter was staying at a friend's house. They went to dinner as usual. However, his wife, who had some tendency to migraine headaches, became ill during dinner. So, the decided to skip the concert and came home.
As they approached the house, things didn't seem right. The wife called 911 from the car phone, but the husband decided to go in through the garage. On his was through the garage, he pick up a hunting rifle. The wife heard one very loud shot and then many smaller shots. Fortunately, a police officer was just around the corner and arrived just as the shooting started. The police surrounded the house and brought out three robbers in fine condition, one robber seriously injured, and one dead homeowner.
The security system had been expertly deactivated, the locks expertly defeated, locked display cabinets had been expertly opened, they knew where the safes were and had the tools and know-how to open them, etc.
A few days later, my friend's wife had an appointment to go for a walk with the widow (they live only a few blocks away). After the appointed time had more than passed, she called the widow, but there was no answer. She decided to walk down figuring to either meet her along the way or perhaps find her out back by the pool. There was no answer at the door, so she let herself through the gate and went around back. She noticed the back door broken in and fled. The police entered the house and found the widow and the daughter tied up and shot in the back of the head execution style. Same type of ammo the robbers had used a few days earlier except the one was still in intensive care and the other three were still in jail. The widow had had the coins removed from the house immediately, of course, but there was still plenty of valuable stuff around. Nothing was taken. The second time, they didn't come to take property.
It's best not to attract this kind of people to your house, even if you have a really big sword.
Chuck
