Please rest assured any issues that are brought to Albion's attention will definitely be addressed. I personally know several of the Albion crew and can say without a doubt as an uninvolved party that the people at Albion Swords love historic swords and are as passionate as anyone about offering quality, accurate swords to the public. This is the basic paradigm of the company and they have stood by that as long as I've known about them. As anything made by hand by a small company, there can be slight variations in their products occasionally. But I'm confident that Howy, Mike and the rest of the crew will always go the extra mile to make sure their customers are happy.

To echo what has been said - Yes this should not have gone out the door, however we all make mistakes from time to time, it is not the mistake that should really elicit comment, it is what happens next. I am certain you can rest assured Albion will do all it can to rectify this.

As regards 'seconds' going to the European market/Albion Europe; I think this is totally unfounded. 100 or even 15 years ago it would be possible to offload your junk on other markets, but now in the internet age, borders don't matter, word gets around and as this review has shown, a bad review in Europe elicits strong words in the US and other places. Albion is not run by stupid people and only stupid people would think they could sell junk in Europe and nobody else would notice.

Its a mistake and not a policy and it will get sorted out.

Tod

Well, I for one, am curious how this turns out.

Despite all of this, I think that I'll continue saving my pennies for a Munich. Hopefully a vote of confidence will serve alongside the complaints of customers old and new in spurring Albion to reclaim their reputation.

What is so distressing about this is that there are multiple problems, all occurring at completely different manufacturing stages, that ALL should have gotten this sword thrown in the scrap pile. It's inexcusable to imagine that whoever did the bluing didn't notice the leather, or vice versa. The same goes with the grind, the edges, etc. Whoever worked on this sword should be losing his/her job at Albion.

With that said, having dealt with their CS in the past, they'll make it right.

To be fair to Albion for a moment:

Apart from the lack of bluing upon the hilt fittings (an appalling error), any of the problems pointed out with this sword, taken by themselves, would be minor flaws in an otherwise excellent product. All of these coupled together do make for a highly substandard piece when dealing with the Museum Line's expectation of quality.

I suspect that this may be a prototype that was shipped out to Albion Europe by mistake, and there was a failure to visually inspect the piece for quality before it was shipped to the customer. The alternative is that it was a piece that was used by another customer and then returned and re-sold without being refurbished.

Speculation is pointless, however, and as far as that goes, it is a matter for Albion to look into for themselves.

Either way, it is encouraging that both Peter Johnsson and Howard Waddell have personally addressed the issue. As they're some of the top guys at Albion (I know Peter doesn't actually work for them except as a freelance designer but I imagine he does have some influence), there will very likely be some care taken with the next few batches to ensure that any such shortfall in quality doesn't happen again.

I've never seen anything short of excellence from any Albion I've owned (seven so far). Still, things happen even in the tightest run shops. Hopefully, Albion's customer service is still up to their usual legendary standards and this will soon be but a memory.

It's been a while since this sword was received. Some sort of solution must have been arrived at by now.

[quote="Hector A."]

Jeremy V. Krause wrote:

Hopefully the next sword will be perfect, as all Albion's should be.

Well, I don't know about perfect but I am sure your replacement will be a very fine specimen.

I can see some few pits on a pommel and/or guard as completely acceptable. I have a Solingen with a grip seam that wanders a bit and is a little more noticeable than I would find absolutely ideal but I still am very happy with the sword and didn't complain to albion about this one small defect- if we even want to call it a defect.

"Perfect" isn't really something to strive for in a handmade product I think but that's just me.

Expecting an exceptionally well-finished and consistent sword from albion is absolutely what I would expect.

Update: My sword will be arriving in a little under a month, i'm exited, but i hope it won't turn to disappointment once more. I expect great things from this sword and i will keep the forum informed of when it arrives. I will also review it as i did the last one to see if the problems have been addressed and if others didn't arise.

Keep tuned.

I have received for a few days now my new Cluny and it is as close to perfect as one can get!
It has none of the problems of the old one, and the handling is divine.
I will go more in dept later when i find the time, but Albion really put a lot of work into this one and it shows, i am very pleased with it and i can safely say its the best handling longsword on the market, even the famed Brescia feels clumsy in comparison (i'm not saying the Brescia is a bad sword, but the Cluny in the handling department is far better).
If you have questions don't hesitate to ask.

Wonderful, I am glad you have no received a sword worthy of the price tag!!
Now don't go and do what I normally do and damage the sword during the first day of handling.

While I was in Paris last week, I was sorely tempted to visit the Cluny museum just to see if I could play around with the sword in the gift shop. Unfortunately time did not allow for such an indulgence. :(

Hi Hector
I am so glad that the sword you received is in the condition that albion states on there web well done hope you enjoy