Anthony de Vos

Hi! Here is my Enfield rifle M1858 Navy If I remember right. It has Japanese round up markings and lovely cloud inlays on the barrel. They where fitted with eighter the yagathan bayonet or, more rarely, the fearsome cutlass. This one is fitted with the cutlass but you see both versions in my picture. Anthony

Hi! I love Japanese Bakumatsu revolvers. Here are my lot. Anthony

Hi! I got the Jumonji, I found it interesting and different to my regular ones. Thanks for the name, I didn't know. Mei Harima no kami Minamoto Shigetsugu Piers, I got the Horagai as well, do know why, I already have a nice big one. I blame my auction trigger finger. Anthony

Hi! Piers, the Yonezawa at the top is 10 monme. Under There is a 50 monme Seki. Then there are two ten monme Seki were one is converted to percussion. That one is made in Kunetomo and returned there for the percussion upgrade. The one at the bottom is kind of a hybride. It’s a six monme bajozutsu. The stock and lock is all Seki but the barrel is maybe nanban and pegs are holding the barrel, not the brass or cupper bands you normaly see on both schools. The 50 monme Seki has both the original cupper and brass band as well as a set in silver with chrysantemum decorations. Anthony

Hi! Yonezawa and also the sibling, Seki school are my favouries. Here are my small group. Anthony

PM sent Anthony

Hi! I have mailed Kelly as well. They should be able to get in contact with Magnus. AdV

Hi! A one off auction. I don’t think it will be repeated on the Bonham action. Some of the prices were marketX10. Something very fishy went down on the Sothenby’s, money laundring? Who knows.. Anthony

Hi! Here is a nice variations of ya in a transportation box. Regards, Anthony

Hi Ron! I sent you a PM. Regards, Anthony

Hi! Really? It’s in the same section-Katchu. Regarding the mempo, If you like it keep it. I have 2 Showa mempo I bought and kept, I even keep a gendai kabuto I like. Everything nice doesn’t need to be Bamen or Saotome. Anthony

Hi! Don’t destroy the patina. No ”mint steel condition” please. Anthony

Hi! My believe is that this kabuto is not typical for Bamen school. The iron hachimanza is rather large compared to the general size from the Bamen. The mabesashi is not typical for Bamen koboshi of the period (could be a replacement). The koboshi should be more conical. There is no gunbai pattern typical for Bamen koboshi (few exeptions are extant). The harai date doesn’t feel right. Lovely old kabuto but I think the origin is from somewhere else. Nice find. Anthony

Hi! Jan, didn’t the Stibbert example have 3 barrels inside a larger one? Anthony

Hi Curran! Thanks for your reply! The post may be old but datings of Saotome tsuba seems to be the same today, with many mentions of Muromachi and Momoyama. I was interested in what time period the tosogu experts on the forum think the school was active. Regarding the question if the armorers and tsuba makers are the same, there were no Saotome school before the armor makers started it, that is my belief. I guess it's like the viking era in my home country, when I went to school it was the 9:th century, now it started in the sixth, knowledge expands with research. There is extensive research done on the Saotome school armor makers, by Dr Orikasa to mention one. Maybe not so much on the tsuba side? There are fake Saotome helmets due to their popularity, in spite of the technical difficulties in the solutions. I wonder about the tsubas, almost every tsuba with a chrysanthemum design is labeled Saotome. Is that to simplifie thinks I wonder. Regards, Anthony

Hi Hamish! Since I obviously was one of the posters worth smerking at (It's not my tsuba) I would like to hear your view on the dating for Ko-Saotome tsuba. I am more attuned to the world of Japanese armor and there Saotome school belongs to the Edo period and certainly not Muromachi. Late Momoyama is debated. Just interested since I se all these early dating estimations on tsuba. Regards, Anthony

Hi! Modern day schoolars like Dr Orikasa believes that the Saotome school of armor smiths are an Edo period school with the founder, the ronin chikara, later taking the name Ietada was active from the very beginning of the Edo period. It seems like the world of sword fittings refer to Saotome smiths with the same names as the armor smiths, but place them one hundred years or more earlier than the same school making armors. Someone with any idea why? No one believe the old Myochin genealogi with smiths from the Heian period anymore but regarding the Saotome school Muromachi period is still considered. I have difficulties to see how any Saotome tsuba could be younger than the very beginning of the Edo period, based on the Saotome armor school time frame of activity. Regards, Anthony

Hi! There is no reason whatsoever to destroy the ukebari If you only want to look for a mei and not the technical construction. Buy and endoscope. Works well and you can also use it If playing doctor and nurse 😁 Anthony

Hi! I think the star in your collection of ozutsu is no.4 from the front. A Yonezawa matchlock with that calibre is so rare that it doesn’t exist, it’s an Urban myth😁 Anthony

Exellent find Gary! Lovely gun. It will be interesting to see If There is a mei. The story about the 2,5 m was really bad luck. I wouldn’t sleep for a month If it happened to me 😁 Anthony

Hi! I would say 3000$ and up for a simple okashi with a Zunari kabuto. Anthony

Hi! As a bystander I just wonder over what Brian wrote. If Brian has the details from John and states that the payment plan wasn’t followed. Is the lenght of the plan relevant? And who decided the lenght. Why didn’t John write, what I find most important and that is the deal breaker. The payment plan wasn’t followed by the buyer. Who is then at fault? The seller or the buyer? If the agreement was set in stone, clearly the buyer IMHO. The I think flexibility from a seller would promote him. Anthony

Hi! Yesterday I won two interesting revolvers at an American auction. First one is a Colt Navy 1851, calible'36. Obviously made in the US but on the right side near the barrel there is Japanese Kanji; Kanagawa-ken...(Kanagawa prefeture...., and also Hyaku yonjushichi go (no. 147). Probably numbered in a weapon roundup in kanagawa. It’s the second Bakumatsu Colt navy 1851 I got, the difference is that my other one is a Colt Brevete, made in Japan. The second one is a Japanese made percussion revolver, calibre '38, with a belt hook. I have no clue if it is a generic percussion revolver of if they have copied an existing model maybe some of you more knowledgable members would know? The inscription on the grip says; Meiji kyunen, sen'hyakunijusan-go (Meiji nine, 1876, no 1123) Probably also a roundup. Regards, Anthony

Hi! This is not a "whisling arrow" or kabura Ya (transl to turnip headed arrow). Kabura ya are generally made of wood or deer horn, carved in a way that the whistling sound was created. They doesn't resemble this arrow head at all. This is a copy of a presentation arrow. The most beautiful ones are from the Umetada school. This one is not made to use. I have a presentation arrow, somewhat smaller than this one where there are fletched with four sets of feathers so the arrow will go straigt without the normal haya or otoya rotation. Anthony

Hi! Thanks for your inputs! Very valuable. Regarding the price of the Tsunemasa Daisho, I agree that the asking price was too high. Fortunately I paid less than half. I don't put to match attention to the papers since I don't doubt the origin. Also the Koto bridge (music instrument) theme is common by Tsunemasa. Great information that Tsunemasa had a relative Haruma. It seems that I need some books if venturing into the subject of Bamen tsuba makers Anthony