Okan

Sword is not papered so I wanted to ask for your opinion if you think it's gimei or not. Thank you!

Thank you!!!

Hello, Can you please help me out on this. (Don't ask about the condition of the tang, not my blade..but someone cleaned it good and tried to re-rust maybe? ) Thank you!

Wow. Great info. What a history..Thanks a lot Ian!

Made using an early 17th century German Solingen blade, re-shaped and re-tempered in Japan in the Japanese style. The scabbard is encased in colourful Dutch leather (goudleer), while a golden mon (Japanese heraldic crest) embellishes the surface. This three-circle motif was associated with the powerful Matsura clan. They governed the island of Hirado, which provided a base for the Dutch East India Company (VOC) until 1641. This blade may have been gifted to the Matsura family by Dutch traders seeking their good will. Indeed, the goudleer on the scabbard might be an indication that the VOC commissioned the whole weapon as a novelty presentation piece, combining Japanese and Dutch elements. Alternatively, a Solingen sword may have been independently acquired and adapted to suit Japanese taste, with the goudleer serving to emphasise its unusual nature.

Enjoy.

@Bruce Pennington - No sorry Bruce, I've checked but the link is expired..I'm uploading 4 more that I had. How did I miss this blade...

Probably that and the price of tamahagane. Also you wouldn't want to create a new section on watches Then we would all be seeing posts like "How to oil your watch" or "Never clean the back of your watch"

I found this piece of ad in a book that I bought from second hand book market. Don't know if you saw this before but I wanted to share it. March 5th 1984.

+1

No they need a miracle Just kidding, they just need some time as I need some knowledge and experience.

Here are some books on tsuba making and design. I put them on my google drive as it makes it's easier to download. They are all free and available on archive.org https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1OGmr5k-KD_srD2j2R4FmNvImNi-sgVdj?usp=sharing

One more saved!

Not yet I'll try that in a couple of weeks where I'll have a garden to do it. I didn't want to try that inside the house.

I've been trying to find out an answer to that same question...9 or 10 of the tsuba in the collection is mixed up with the wreck as there is no sign of salt corrosion on them. But the rest were eaten out and I had removed small sea shells from their nakago ana..(funny story: couple of days ago I removed another small sea shell, turned out it was copper decoration, covered with rust) Maybe they were found after a tsunami..don't know...but the deceased owner's daughter says it was a shipwreck.

Hmm interesting.

Thank you Jon!

Your elephant is being rusted in the bathroom(intentionally) before its green tea bath need to fill those gaps first.

Yes most of the collection is very difficult to restore and I don't care about the market value..I'm not trying to restore them to sell..(that being said, I'll sell or giveaway the hopeless ones, maybe someone would like to use wrought iron or study metallurgy)

Well that's a very slight chance but yes it feels great Thank you the Bruce.

I know they will never be in a great condition but I did my best to clean them and will continue. It took a while but I finally started to see some improvements. I know I over did the one with the birds(there is also a crescent moon behind it, probably silver, would love to see it in its best condition) Some of them are very good for some study purposes.

I've read somewhere that they were allowed to wear a real sword during Bakamatsu period. Maybe I'm wrong.

2 doctors..Only wakizashi I presume.

It can't be recent. But yes I guess something was in there and fallen out..I hope it wasn't diamond and hope it wasn't me who made it fall

Hello, I just found a very little and carefully drilled hole on a tsuba. Did anyone see anything like this before? What might be the purpose of it? It's weird too see that the hole didn't rust..