Ian B3HR2UH
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Everything posted by Ian B3HR2UH
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Is there anyone else out there who thinks , like me, that this has been rebound to sell to gullible gaijin ? Ian Brooks
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I think that your assessment is correct Steve . I would give it a miss . Ian Brooks
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Hi Mickie , congratulatons on having a go at translating this yourself . I was pretty impressed with what you achieved . Too many collectors here will not attempt a translation and will thus remain ignorant forever.Well done Ian Brooks
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Hi Simon , I was the winning bidder on that sword with about a minute to go but was then blown out of the water ! From memory I bid twelve or thirteen thousand and it eventually sold for around seventeen thousand . Ian Brooks
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Here are a couple that I have Bruce . The naval one shows the stippling that I mentioned . It is also gilded on the lower areas which some of these had when they were new . Ian Brooks
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Did anyone see the four sets of gunto menuki for sale on Jauce recently ? Each of the sets had a mon on the middle of the menuki as you would see on a high quality gunto mount . To my eye the silver mon looked a bit thicker than usual and they didn't have the stippled effect on the cut away areas that you see on the real ones. I decided that they were reproductions but there were 119 bids and someone liked them well enough to pay 41500 yen for them . If they were really left over WW2 stock then it probably shows that some of the Mon, we assume are family Mon, are just something nice that was picked out of a dealers stock. Today I saw four more sets for sale which reinforced my view that they are modern reproductions I put this up as if it isn't bought to light people will soon believe that these are genuine old pieces ( like the mon on the 1944 pattern sword ) Ian Brooks
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Congratulations on having the guts to say it Jacques . I also think that the so called authentic one is not right . Ian Brooks
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Received in a trade. Wakizashi in Shirasaya
Ian B3HR2UH replied to AlphaRaider's topic in General Nihonto Related Discussion
I always enjoy reading your analysis Kirill . You might be right about this one . I know though , that if I had been fortunate enough to stumble across this piece , I wouldn't have parted with it so easily . Ian Brooks -
Jacques , are you being serious ? Can't you see that the stamp has been removed ? Do you think that this blade is worthy of papers ? Ian Brooks
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Simon , thank you for reposting that . It really makes you wonder how worthwhlie Hozon papers are when a piece like this can get them , I was stunned that it had papers . Ian Brooks
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Hi Chris , I don't know if Mr Bowman is trying to imply that this sword was surrendered on the Missouri or not, but if he is ,then it is false as no swords were surrendered on the Missouri . If the mans grandfather was on the Missouri on the day of the surrrender then he was not in the Islands at the time and presumably wasn't in a position to pick up an Island made sword after the surrender . This is because he was in Japan not the islands where these monstrosities are said to come from . The story is rubbish as is the sword . Ian Brooks
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Biographical information on Willis M. Hawley
Ian B3HR2UH replied to Chojugiga's topic in General Nihonto Related Discussion
We all owe a huge debt of gratitude to Willis Hawley . The second biggest advancement that I made in my collecting was when Hawleys Japanese Swordsmith books arrived in the mail. If you can get your hands on the Token society of Great Britain Progeramme No 78 there is an eleven page article , Willis Hawley Tells All . In the article Willis writes about his collecting journey and it is a fascinating read . In the same programmme there is an article by Graeme Curtis that describes his visit to Hawleys house . The JSSUS Newsletter of January 1988 has an obituary and early photograph of Willis . I have always kept a couple of letters that he wrote to me in about 1973- 1974 . Ian Brooks -
Hi Sergio , just over a thousand . Jussi has the exact number in his writings .
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Sham , we also know that industrious Australian troops were turning out " Japanese swords " to sell to the Americans . Other nationalities were probably doing this as well . I came across a fair number of jeep spring / island made swords that returned soldiers were selling in the 1970's. These were obviously genuine world war two artifacts but even then you could not tell what was Japanese made and what was made by others . The sword that is said to be made in New Guinea is not a type that I came across (( and I saw probably several thousand swords ). Given that there are a few of this type floating around out there I think it can safely be said that it was not made in New Guinea. As someone else commented elsewhere why bother about this junk when there are so many good interesting and genuine items to collect
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I agree Colin . From memory it was given to someone during the occupation and his family still owns it . My friend who showed it to me is keeping that information pretty close to his chest . No one commented on the same which I think is the finest piece that I have ever seen . The largest nodule appears to be carved ivory but the rest looks to be the real thing and is fantastic .
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I have posted this one before but since it fits in with the topic and I think it is fantastic, here it is again Ian Brooks
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Junk is junk Tristan , The problem is that no one can tell what is island made and what is fake. Give this garbage a wide berth . Ian
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Hi Chris , in my experience swords with the flat wrap are much more likely to have quality blades in them . Ian Brooks
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I came across photographs of a very fine tachi mount that I was shown some years ago and thought people may like to see it . The mount is on a tsunagi and nothing is signed. Apparently there was an accompanying blade in shira saya that was stolen !
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Very interesting Ebay post
Ian B3HR2UH replied to Bridges's topic in Auctions and Online Sales or Sellers
Well here I go once again leaping to the defence of this sword and waiting for a kicking from the rest of you . I have only handled one genuine Naotane and the mei and nakago on that piece was a work of art in its own right . When I first saw the nakago on this piece I thought, what a disappointment ,the mei was badly cut and ugly. Despite this I photocopied the mei and took it home to study . There are a lot of Naotane mei out there to look at, however there were , on my very cursory examination , very few dated around the same era as this piece (1839 ) . Iimura and Kataoka have no mei for this period . In fact I only found one that was dated 1839 and that was a photograph of a nakago in one of Marcus Sesko's books . Guess what, it had the same coarse filemarks and badly cut looking mei as the ebay piece ! You have to be careful I think to compare this piece to others made years earlier or later . Bruce makes the point that it is missing a stroke on the Nao . True but that stroke is only present on pieces made before about 1830 . Looking at pieces made around 1839 the way the mei and the kakihan were cut didn't immediately disqualify it for me . I still think the mounts point to something good and I liked how the Hi ended . On the other hand Naotane is much faked and the mei on his katana/tachi are usually longer . My gut feel still says it is not right but I don't think that it ( or the buyer who is not me ) deserve the s**t being heaped on the sword and them . Ian Brooks -
A client recently bought a hamidashi into the office for me to have a look at . The mei had me tossed but with the assistance of Steve I now think it means Long life sword . The mounts are interesting . The tsuba , fuchi and kashira are all gilded copper ( ? ) engraved with both Kiri and kiku mon . Usually the combination of these would point to an Imperial connection . The menuki , kodzuka and Kogai all depict cranes which are symbolic of long life . The blade is a real one of uncertain age and properly tempered . With the long life and Imperial family connection I wonder if the piece was produced ( as a souvenir ) to celebrate the Emperors birthday or a milestone number of years on the throne . Has anyone seen anything similar or have any thoughts on what it might be? Ian Brooks
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Thanks Steve , much appreciated . Ian
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An inscription on a tanto that I was recently shown has me stumped . I think that the first two characters read Fukuju which translates to long life and happiness . The third character is badly written but the left hand part appears to be number 167 in Nelson, however the right hand section doesn't match up with any of the characters that he lists . Does anyone have any ideas ? Ian brooks