Jump to content

AntiquarianCat

Members
  • Posts

    253
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

Everything posted by AntiquarianCat

  1. Hello Darius, if it is okay with you telling others, how much did you pay for it? I'm probably just not very perceptive but I can't make out the yokote and wonder if that might be due to damage. Although like you said, look on the bright side, it could have been worse: you could have bought a really shoddy acid etched Chinese reproduction had you been less lucky.
  2. It seems like Fred Lohman can replace missing koshirae with modern replica at what seems to be a decent price http://www.Japanese-swords.com/index.htm I’ve never used his services so I can’t vouch for them but it seems okay to me for replacing a damaged Saya.
  3. Hi Darius, at risk of giving you bad advice (since I’m a total neophyte), what’s helped me visualize the hamon best is holding the blade towards a lamp above it. It should make the habuchi visible which I’ve found helpful since acids and maybe polishing mean the whitened edge doesn’t always line up with the habuchi. Again, I’m a rookie when it comes to this stuff and maybe you can’t visualize the habuchi in a blade this beat up, or maybe I’m completely wrong, but it helps me a bit and might be worth a try. It would at least be quick and easy to do with a small, lightweight blade.
  4. Could you and Stephen let me know what brand of microscopes you have? I probably need one for home. My other hobby is numismatics, especially ancients, and I’d bring coins to campus and use the stereoscope we have in lab to look at them in my free time. For really obvious reasons I can’t do the same with blades so I need a home microscope.
  5. That looks really nice for seeing details and not struggling with a loupe and phone and the object in question all at once (impossible for me to do with two hands). I wonder if you could combine this digital microscope with a desk lamp or some other light source to better visualize coin luster/blade details?
  6. Hello Ian, Yes of course. I never meant to question Mr. Benson’s opinion. I was just wondering if it's at all possible to guess which smith might have made this sword. Of course, I totally understand that might be unrealistic, especially given it's scuffed up state and the bad quality of photos I've uploaded. I suppose such a thing is difficult even with swords in better shape. Also, I forgot to ask at the time but was this likely to have been made as a katana/uchigatana? I assume a tachi would be substantially more curved than this and a bit larger but I could be wrong. I guess the curiosity you’d get from having a beat-up old sword laying around and wondering what it did and was back in its day is gnawing at me a bit. Thanks
  7. Hello again, I suppose I’m due for an update: I brought the aforementioned sword to the Atlanta show and showed it to Mr. Benson; he said the sword dated to the Muromachi period, and that it had Bizen characteristics, like the Nagako, also due to damage from the ato-bori and machi okuri it is not cost-effective to polish(not surprised but that means the hada and other traits won’t get any easier to discern). So with all that said I wonder if it isn’t possible (especially for all the people here that are much more knowledgable than me) to make an educated guess at an attribution. If it helps I’ve gotten a bit better at taking photos, and it turns out the hada on the outward-facing side is pretty intact. I’m still new at this compared to everyone else but it kind of looks like a mix of komokume and maybe Itame (definitely a lot of small whorls close together). The inward-facing side which I had been looking at initially is much more scuffed up by uchiko damage and like Ken said, I mistakenly interpreted the scratches as masame; with good incident light what looks like komokume is visible all over the inward-facing side of the sword as well. Shinogi appears to be komokume as well or itame. Nakago appears to be kuri-jiri with kiri yasurime. Also, I guess the Hamon still counts as suguha but I see a slight notate pattern. Also every so often the Hamon will show activities, either what looks like extra lines ( sunagashi?) or these small dimples going towards the cutting edge (is that yo?). Also, the sword seems to have some taper: the Motohaba is about 2.9cm, sakihaba about 1.8cm, definitely more taper than the Shinto katana I have; I assume this is part of what pushed it towards a Muromachi attribution. The curvature also seems to begin fairly late along the blade, especially when compared to the Edo period sword. The late curvature is all the more notable because the Muromachi sword has a shortened blade(machi okuri), I imagine when it was originally made the curvature started even later along the blade length. Again I’m inexperienced but this seems like a tendency towards saki-sori, at least compared to its edo counterpart and I wonder if this also wasn’t part of what helped push the time period attribution towards Muromachi. So far that’s all I can think of. If more photos would help, I’d be happy to take them. I could also upload higher resolution photos in imgur or another file sharing website.
  8. Thank you Grey, The help would be greatly appreciated. The only concern I have is that Georgia classifies this as a weapon and I never applied for a carry license. If I place it in its packaging box and say it’s there for repairs would it be okay? I haven’t been to shows vending weapons before so I’m unsure about how the logistics of this would work? I look forward to the help and show. Thanks again,
  9. Thanks, I’ll give it a try then. Edit: it’s stuck and stuck good. I wonder if the tang is oversized relative to the shirasaya. I’ve only been able to remove it twice within the last month.
  10. Thanks, I do have a mekugi nuki, although so far I’ve only used it to remove the pin. Do you know if it’s safe to place the sword near steam or does that risk causing damage? And yes it’s one of Daimyo54‘s, given that I didn’t pay much I’m not that bothered by the flaws.
  11. If I use force and use it in an unskilled way, will it risk damaging the patina or sword itself? I’m probably projecting from an irrelevant subject but coins that have partly mineralized are very brittle, and I dread breaking an antique (even if it’s one that’s already damaged). Thanks, Edit: it isn’t moving, even with moderate force used. So far I’ve only been able to remove it while it’s raining outside. I could still take a full length photo if it would aid with identification but the tang is going to be obstructed.
  12. Hello Jean, Unfortunately I’ve only been able to remove the blade from the shirasaya while the weather is extremely moist. The method involving tapping my left hand with the right while holding the bottom of the grip hasn’t worked under drier weather and I’m not confident that I could remove it right now without causing damage to the patina or worse so the only full Suguha photos I have were taken by the vendor. The carving being horrifically bad seems to be a universal consensus. I suppose that’s what made it cheap. And yes I also was wondering if it could have been added to cover some type of a defect or if someone just recklessly did that (there are people who by mistake polish ancient coins, could be something like that I thought). Thanks,
  13. Also if this additional information aids in identification: the blade length is 71.1cm and the curvature is about 1.6cm.
  14. Hello everyone, I came into possession of this blade recently and would greatly appreciate input from more experienced collectors. I’m not sure how feasible it is to do so, but if the sword could be identified to a general time period and region/style of make that would be ideal. I’m already aware of the bad quality ato-bori and the ware cracks and suspect this is why it was cheap. To my inexperienced eyes, the hamachi seems worn, and the nagkago has heavy patina, which makes me think that it’s fairly old and been polished several times. The Hamon looks like suguha and the Hada seems to have masme and some type of wood (komokume?) characteristics, but as I said I’m inexperienced and could be completely wrong about all of this. Also it might be due to general inexperience but it seems as if the angle and type of incident light affects how prominent the different Hada patterns are. I had read that Yamato style blades were produced in large numbers as arsenal weapons during the sengoku period and most were unsigned. Is it at all possible that I’m looking at one such example? Thank you again for everyone’s help,
  15. Hello Grey, I didn’t know about the upcoming show but now that I do, I’ll to attend. I guess talking to others who know more about the subject is already helping me out. Thanks,
  16. Hello all, I’ve had a lifelong interest in history and a love for historical artifacts and and art. Now that I’m finishing grad school I’ve had more time to read about the various things that interest me and then begin collecting. I’m new to the subject of Japanese swords but what drew my interest is that like ancient coins and jewelry/art, they’re very distinctive and have intricate patterns; also by virtue of their age they also double as historical artifacts. I’m new to Nihonto and I’ve been reading the recommended texts and other reference sites but I understand that’s no substitute for talking to people who know far more about the subject and examining a blade in real life.
×
×
  • Create New...