Ceremonial Tachi, Hoo Bird And Horimono, Period ?

[francantolin]

Hello,

I have bought this tachi in an auction,

hoo bird ''model'', shitogi tsuba, tokugawa mon,

with nice horimono ( a dragon and an akala sword on the other side )

the tang is unsigned ( nothing at all    !)

 

The specialist of the auction talked about bakumatsu period,

for the koshirae ok ( or later Meiji ? ) but not sure about the blade age. Can it be older ?

What do you think ? I put a picture of the kissaki.

Thank you

 

Franco

[SwordGuyJoe]

I think a shinshinto blade - more pics would REALLY help. Does the hamon run into the nakago or does it stop behind the machi? Mounts are Meiji to Showa imo

[francantolin]

Hello,

thank you Joe !

here other pictures of the blade and of the tang.

The hamon runs into the nagako and stops half centimeter before the tang.

The blade is nice but with lot of scratches and rust points ! the precedent owner wasn't meticulous at all !

 

[PNSSHOGUN]

Is it just me or do those look like chips in the nakago? Possibly suriage?

[francantolin]

Hello thank you,

what do you mean when you say suriage ?

 

Yes the base of the nagako is bent .

Maybe trying to remove an old tsuka, with barbarian methods  !

[Stephen]

i dont think suriage i think the nakago was bent to fit the Ho (ok not touching that joke) tsuka so fit the blade to mounting, why we have two holes.

Like Joe i think Shinshinto, seen a few over the years, yours is on the upper end IMHO. Nice pickup

[francantolin]

Hello,

Thank you Stephen,

 

Looking for look-like mounted tachi on internet, I found this one on icollector,

really similar but the blade was made in the 16th century ( and in really good state !!!)

 

Do you think the horimono on the blade can be so old ?

What about the koshirae ? Meiji period ? Older ?

[Stephen]

very hard to tell, sorry

[francantolin]

No worry, thank you !

Maybe somebody else ?!

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

Do you think the horimono on the blade can be so old ?

What about the koshirae ? Meiji period ? Older ?

 

I think Joe and Stephen nailed it down. Shinshinto blade adapted to a Meiji Mount. If only it was in better polish...

[francantolin]

Grazie Giuseppe !

 

Yes, the polish is sadly no good anymore ( that's why I caught it for not that much money )

With uchiko powder, I already succeed to take of some rust and mini scratches,

for the rest, I need to find a good sword polisher and save money     $$$ )

 

( maybe has someone a good adress in France or Switzerland... ? )

 

What do you think of the other in the auction ? ( I put the url adress )

 

 

http://www.icollector.com/Superb-Tachi-Length-Sukesada-Signed-16th-Century-Japanese-Sword-with-Elaborate-Tsuba-and-Tokugawa_i17061691

 

Kind Regards

 

Franco

[vajo]

The horimono looks very nice to me. Good buy.

[francantolin]

Hello,

Thank you Chris,

 

what do you ( glad other members ) think of the value of this sword ?

 

I paid it 2000 CHF + tax ( CHF approximately $ ) ,

the estimation in the auction house was of 3000-3500 CHF, but nobody made a bid...  

so I don't really know what to think !

I wonder if it's a correct price or if the sword price was basically overestimated ?!!

( I know that, in auctions,  the price is often the one that people is ready to give and so subjective... )

 

I know I have to pay a lot for a genuine polish and make it clean again.

but for koshirae ( I found the shape of the tachi irresistible !) and the blade with the nice horimonos I found it's a fair price.   

 

What about you ?

Best wishes

 

Franco

[Stephen]

For 2100$ i think you got a good deal, PPL pay that for clean showato nowadays!

[PNSSHOGUN]

Wow, at $2100 you did well for something like this, good Horimono, Tachi mounts and decent sword. For that price it may be worth getting it polished.

[francantolin]

Hello,

thank you all !!

Now I'll find a good ''traditional'' polisher,

I found in France a polisher who asks only 500$ for a manual polish but he isn't expert on nihonto blade and works usually on iaito    ...

[Stephen]

Dont use him!!! send across the channel to Tony Edwards is that the right name UK mates?

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

Van Damme is no more available ?

[Jean]

You are right Carlo, Zenon is still available in Belgium

[Ray Singer]

That sounds absolutely terrifying. Perhaps a good option is to speak with Paul Martin...

 

I found in France a polisher who asks only 500$ for a manual polish but he isn't expert on nihonto blade and works usually on iaito    ...

[AndyMcK]

I would try to arrange something with Paul as you are close to him when he is visiting in UK. Hold on tight and dont do rash decisions.

 

Antti

[francantolin]

OK sure !! Thank you !!

[Gunome]

You could also ask to Massimo Rossi in italia.