Review: Gaukler Medieval Wares
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 10:48 am
Part of a three-way trade for a helm I couldn't use.
(Caveat, I don't "pad" reviews. If you ever see me give *anything* a rave review, either I've been replaced with a Pod Person, or go buy it RIGHT NOW.)
Customer Service: 3 of 5. Not the easiest guy to deal with when setting up something complex. My "inbound" from the trade was a slew of buckles (which have arrived), and another slew of buttons (which have not yet arrived). All are pretty much custom jobs. Gaukler was very cagey about saying how much he'd charge for a given buckle, which made negotiating very difficult, and he needs to work on keeping folks up to date on order status rather than having them have to come begging for info. But the info he provided was accurate and honest, so I have mild grumbles but no significant complaints.
Speed of shipment: 5 out of 5. Good, especially coming from up over the Canadian border -- I don't know **WTF** the beef is with the Canadian and US postal services, but I do know that I can get items back and forth from HUNGARY easier than I can Canada. Gaukler's package was mildly delayed, but looking at the date-stamps, it's clearly evident that the merchandise went out as soon as it was ready.
Quality of Merchandise: 5 out of 5. Excellent, clean-cast replica buckles from 11th-century Rus and 9th-century Byzantium. The casting is clean, the polish is excellent, and they literally require no muss or fuss before they go on something.
Research Quality: (variable, but good). Gaukler produces from his private collection, which has items I recognized, and some I didn't. (EDIT-variable under these circumstances is simply a note that I don't think an x-of-x rating applies)
SUMMARY: if you don't mind some rough edges on the communication front, I would heartily recommend doing business with this firm.
(Caveat, I don't "pad" reviews. If you ever see me give *anything* a rave review, either I've been replaced with a Pod Person, or go buy it RIGHT NOW.)
Customer Service: 3 of 5. Not the easiest guy to deal with when setting up something complex. My "inbound" from the trade was a slew of buckles (which have arrived), and another slew of buttons (which have not yet arrived). All are pretty much custom jobs. Gaukler was very cagey about saying how much he'd charge for a given buckle, which made negotiating very difficult, and he needs to work on keeping folks up to date on order status rather than having them have to come begging for info. But the info he provided was accurate and honest, so I have mild grumbles but no significant complaints.
Speed of shipment: 5 out of 5. Good, especially coming from up over the Canadian border -- I don't know **WTF** the beef is with the Canadian and US postal services, but I do know that I can get items back and forth from HUNGARY easier than I can Canada. Gaukler's package was mildly delayed, but looking at the date-stamps, it's clearly evident that the merchandise went out as soon as it was ready.
Quality of Merchandise: 5 out of 5. Excellent, clean-cast replica buckles from 11th-century Rus and 9th-century Byzantium. The casting is clean, the polish is excellent, and they literally require no muss or fuss before they go on something.
Research Quality: (variable, but good). Gaukler produces from his private collection, which has items I recognized, and some I didn't. (EDIT-variable under these circumstances is simply a note that I don't think an x-of-x rating applies)
SUMMARY: if you don't mind some rough edges on the communication front, I would heartily recommend doing business with this firm.