Matsunoki

I wondered if it was a smooth round from a .45 1911?

Agree it’s a bullet strike. Shrapnel would have cut the leather cover and left a more jagged imprint. You can almost see the shape of the round.

OK, we are not comparing Wakizashi but we are comparing swords of Wakizashi Nagasa. I’ll shut up now and for what it’s worth my preferences in descending order would be…. 1 3 2 4 ….but I’m truly shocked that I’ve said something that Jacques agrees with🙂

I’m getting confused, nothing new there. Are we comparing blades that were actually made as Wakizashi ie mostly ubu Shinto onwards or are we putting anything that has a wakizashi Nagasa into the debate thus bringing anything suriage into the comparison which to me does not seem logical. These suriage blades are not per se wakizashi and thus can only exhibit the remnant sugata of their former lives.

What a shock. Ford helped me a lot going way back over 40 years. True genius, not just technically but artistically. What a loss. RIP mate.

Just a personal opinion, but if we are judging true wakizashi I think we should be looking at ubu wakizashi, not longer blades that have become wakizashi via suriage.

It’s called learning. Sometimes sounds harsh but it’s sound advice and well intentioned. You should have seen some of my early stuff🙂. We all start from zero. The fun is journeying in the right direction. Train your eye….look at fine pieces ….sales, museums etc. Difficult to learn much from just studying low end. Look at Bonhams website, search “tsuba” (past lots) you’ll see a range of qualities and their financial market values. It will open your eyes very quickly but might spoil some of the romanticism.

Paris, hello For some reason I’m always fascinated by shipwreck recoveries. Ok it’s mostly porcelain or cannons etc but I’ve never encountered shipwreck tsuba. Any record of the ship or other relevant info….where, when etc? Just interested.

Not sure who are more confused, us or them. What a stupid mess. What the hell good will it do sending them an image…..anyone there likely to have a clue what they are looking at? They say “should be on our website”…..did they check?….obviously not. Thanks for trying Alex. The Token Society position is to wait for them (Parcelforce etc) to sort themselves out. Personally I don’t think they are capable of sorting themselves out. 🤬

Yes Dale, but you don’t have to face the M11, M25 and M4 all of which are either full of roadworks, accidents, massive tailbacks, HGVs about a yard off your rear bumper and other assorted lunatics rapidly heading toward an accident. Quiet life for me nowadays. Remember we only got electricity around here a couple of years ago🙂

Dale, I’m on the other side of the country, which for a native East Anglian, is about the same as the other side of the world.

Hi Dale, yes I stumbled onto that site via a search on fleabay and was gobsmacked by some of pieces…….far better than most Nagoyamono. Some of the fuchi kashira were worryingly good as well. A lot of genuine tsuba mixed in. Crafty. many of the repro were described as such but these tsuba were “edo” hence my suspicion that a trap awaited. Nothing gets past you does it?😊😊😊, thankfully!!! Best. Colin

@thutson Thanks Tom….interesting but very scary.

Some fakes are getting so good now that I begin to doubt far more things. Opinions on this one? Signs of wear to seppadai….but that can be faked as well! From China hence the doubt but it looks very nice quality and I’d normally go very late Edo or more likely early Meiji. They haven't got this good yet have they? If so …..blimey.

We’ve got quite a wait then Michael, meantime it’s a gamble, often involving very expensive things and a hell of a lot of stress. Anyway, my thanks to you and all on the Ctte who have tried. It’s a thankless task asking. Maybe in due course write to both the Chairman and the CEO. Ive had to do exactly that with a major International Co based in the UK. I said to them if they did not answer I would go to the media and re whatever answer they did actually give me, if it didn’t make sense I’d go to the media. I got an answer and it made sense.

Would like to hear more expert opinions than mine because mine is basically worthless - but I’d go for Koto, ruined, trade it on.

In my previous working life I learned (and taught others) never to assume anything🙂…it often leads to tears or worse. I wonder, could the Token, as our representative body ask Parcelforce outright if they will ship genuine Nihonto (ie either antique or modern but traditionally made) … 1. within the UK? 2. exporting from the UK? 3. importing into the UK? At least that would bring a degree of clarity. Maybe ask the same directly of Royal Mail?

Well I’ll have a go…..looks old, terribly mistreated, suriage at both ends (kissaki looks totally wrong), small chips to the ha, signs of mounting (habaki shadow), nakago looks it’s been gone over with a dremmel…..but with that sugata I’d say old but ruined if the kissaki is as bad as it looks in the pic. Any sign at all of a boshi? If It is modern someone has gone to a lot of trouble for not much point.

26, a long long time ago.

Better closeups of both sides of nakago possible?

Paul, thanks for this thread. Most of us took it as intended. Not as an online Kantei but as a simple question…”which shapes appeal to our eyes” and most answers addressed it accordingly. Brians suggestion to pick most vs least appealing added an extra enjoyable perspective. It made me look and think focussing not on who/where/when/what but simply on what my personal taste is. Great fun with no risk of making a twit of oneself! Many thanks. Colin

Hi Michael The trouble is Royal Mail have indeed updated their conditions on their website as per the info you posted but Parceforce haven’t and they operate as a separate Co. I guess we need to know for sure that Parcelforce, who handle many incoming overseas parcels (as well as internal UK) now operate as per the Royal Mail updated conditions. The fact that Royal Mail are updated but Parcelforce are not is troublesome to say the least. Makes we wonder if they understand what they are doing, let alone us paying customers understand. Not being awkward but having been on the end of several internal and international import problems first hand in the last two years I am still uncomfortable with this apparent contradiction in conditions.

Have (again) just compared the relevant Parcelforce vs Royal Mail “restricted/prohibited items” definitions on their Websites. They appear to be totally different and this is a screenshot of the Parcelforce one that clearly says “No” against both UK and International sendings for bladed items. Confusing?

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Neither can I. Are Parcelforce and Royal Mail using the same criteria?…..the Parcelforce website is very confusing and I can see no mention of “antiques” in the bladed weapons section.