ChrisW

It appears to be traditionally made, but very much abused. Looks like a buffing wheel has been taken to it.

I would talk to dealers who have strong contacts in Japan, like Darcy for example.

I wish you the best of luck in your search, but you are going to really struggle with the first and fourth characteristic, especially the fourth one. Finding original koshirae on a tachi is almost impossible.

The next ITK meeting is scheduled to be on Saturday, the 26th of February. We will be meeting at 10 A.M. at the Carnegie Public Library in Martinsville, IN. The meeting is open to the public but we respectfully ask that masks be worn per the library's visitor recommendations. (And its better for the swords!) This meeting's topic is hada. Please contact me ahead of time if you wish to bring a blade to the meeting.

A very poorly made Chinese fake, sorry to break it to you.

Most definitely a gendaito.

Ah I see! Just be sure to clean the blades gently with some high-purity isopropyl or mild soap and water (and then dry thoroughly with a soft cloth), then apply either choji or mineral oil to protect them from rust! Avoid anything abrasive or staining.

When you unsheathe the blades, please make sure to lay them on a clean soft cloth of some kind. Never lay them on anything hard like concrete. And give the folks here a few minutes, and I am sure you'll get some translations for your sayagaki.

Feel free to post pictures of it in a separate post and people will advise you on its care and how to see more information on it!

Not hitatsura. This is hitatsura: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/hitatsura3.jpg

Times change, so do prices. As well, you might not look so pretty after 80 some years of wear and neglect! Is it worth the $900 he's asking? Absolutely not, but as Bruce points out, he's a pawnbroker so he should be willing to negotiate. The guy is probably just watching eBay and seeing what far better condition ones are going for and thinks he can get that price with the right customer too.

I'll also check my other blades/spare parts for habaki that are out of the ordinary.

I've always operated on the assumption that it is a chrysanthemum. It is mounted on a Taira Shigeyuki wakizashi. Its a very lovely blade.

Strange that no one has replied to this yet. But the only logical response that I can think of is that the place where you have a different metal inset into the rim of the tsuba is perhaps the site of where a deep kirikome or flaw in the tsuba is found. Perhaps the owner cared enough to have it covered up for some reason. A lot of conjecture, but I can't think of any other logical reason.

Is that a macuahuitl? It looks like a postcard of the last one known to have existed. If another one was to be discovered, it would be a tremendous find because as far as I know there are no extant period-made macuahuitl in existence. The supposed last one burned up in the Madrid Armory fire of 1884 which I believe is the one being shown here.

Can we get some measurements? Nagasa, sori, etc. That should help with assessment of age!

I like how you can get an idea of the blade's sori via the tube it came in! Is this the blade I am thinking of that you brought to our last meeting Dan?

That tsuba appears to be damaged also. It is missing the outer metal ring and there are rough spots where it would have connected. At least, I would imagine that is the case; I've never seen a tsuba intentionally made without one.

Big yikes.

This appears to be a traditionally made nihonto. What is the cutting edge length (nagasa)? It appears it might be a tanto rather than a wakizashi. Does it have a habaki?

Very true, but you'd be surprised how thick some of those Model 1840's can be! They aren't called "Old Wristbreaker" for nothing.

Well, even though it is not Japanese and its not going to carry a ton of value, some basic things you can do would be to: Gently soap and water it then dry it, wipe it down with some high grade pure alcohol (electronics grade is my go-to), then oil the blade with some kind of non-abrasive oil, that is a TON of red rust. Store it in a place that is dry and out of sunlight. Leave the actual restoration work to professionals! It won't likely be worth the money (as in you won't make money) but if you're passionate about it, you can spend the money to have a professional do it. I would check out some civil war item forums online and see as to the consensus as to who is their go-to.

In Japan? That would be very unusual since this looks to be a Model 1840 "Wristbreaker" Cavalry sword, which was made in the US before and commonly issued during the American Civil War. If you look VERY closely at the ricasso (the part of the blade closest to the guard), you'll probably see a manufacturers mark. Either Ames, Horstman, Tiffany, Pettibone; if unmarked, then it is likely a European (most likely German) import model. The Japanese never manufactured blades like these, so if it was brought back from Japan, then that'd be quite a journey to go from here to Japan and then back again in the span of a century.

Definitely going to pay out the nose in shipping on that one.

To expedite your sale, I recommend some measurements for the interested folks here! (Nagasa, nakago length, sori, etc).