Jump to content

Matsunoki

Gold Tier
  • Posts

    1,791
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    24

Everything posted by Matsunoki

  1. Those heavy indentations are a deliberate design feature. If you are interested my two were discussed in these topics…….theybare interesting but not at all important or expensive. Just nice things in my opinion.
  2. Looks 100% forged to my eyes. Price isn’t much of a guide. Some perfectly genuine forged iron tsuba are quite inexpensive. Reminds me of two I have which were very affordable………
  3. Matsunoki

    Omori Hisanori?

    No Bjorn. I’m thinking the grey colour has been applied over the brass and the brass now is showing through now the grey has worn off. I think the brass colour is the actual metal it’s made from.
  4. Matsunoki

    Omori Hisanori?

    Bjorn i am beginning to question my sanity🙂🙂 in your new photo of the peach I still clearly see two colours…..the grey and then a brass colour on high spots. I still see it on many other high points. @Spartancrest…. can you see what I mean? Or have I really gone crazy. I outline in red what I am seeing in this image…….
  5. Piers, wow, that koshirae is beautiful. Thanks for showing. Was it for sale or just to drool over?
  6. Matsunoki

    Omori Hisanori?

    Bjorn Im still puzzled that you don’t see the areas that look worn. I’ve done a screenshot of what the peach and the feathers look like on my iPad. The”brass” colour is what I refer to……but it doesn’t look like that when you have it in your hand?
  7. Brian, don’t try to test it. Afterwards you’ll wish you hadn’t I promise you. Looking at the kozuka id suggest it is of a modest quality and thus unlikely to have a solid gold goat. The Japanese craftsmen had amazing techniques to give the illusion of solid gold but most often, it isn’t sadly. In your image, around the outer edges of the animal it looks as if a silver base colour is showing through……or maybe that’s just a trick of light?
  8. Matsunoki

    Omori Hisanori?

    Bjorn, when we look at the more distant images of your tsuba it appears to have an overall grey patina. Just imagine that someone has sprayed the tsuba grey. Then when we look at the excellent close up images we see that it looks as if the grey spray has beeb rubbed off many of the high points of the design ie those that would receive the most handling, wear and tear etc (eg the peach, the roosters head). The colour we see on these high points is now a brassy colour ie we are looking at the actual metal that the tsuba is made from because the surface spray (or whatever it is) has worn away. Not sure if I’ve explained that very well🙂
  9. This is supposedly a Wakizashi. Comparing it to a Tanto tradionel (whatever that is) is pretty pointless. i guess physics is not your strong suit.
  10. Maxime, I’d be interested to know how that works. Ok the blade is weighed and let’s it’s say 1kg. How does that tell us it’s silver?
  11. Matsunoki

    Omori Hisanori?

    Hi Bjorn Looking at the images, it seems as if it could be cast brass with some sort of applied (possibly sprayed on?) surface finish. The colour of the base metal appears to be showing through on the highlights. I have seen this design, possibly even this shape tsuba done in the most fantastic true mixed metalwork. I’ve also seen later cast and patinated versions. I think there is a really good one on this Forum somewhere. Also was one on eBay some time ago. I’ll have a root around and see what turns up. sadly, my money would be on cast fake Best.Colin
  12. So, you’re happy to dip the nakago in bleach but not to put a minute spot of silver testing fluid on it which would tell you for sure whether it’s silver and leave no discernible trace especially if done on the nakago mune? Believe me what you have there is already so damaged that it will make no difference to it’s value (or rather lack thereof….unless it is silver in which case it’s bullion value) The “blade” is not an “interesting wakizashi”, even if it was once a genuine Nihonto (which I doubt) it is now ruined….. covered in abrasions with two large notches cut into it. However the nakago shape does not remotely look Japanese and it looks like someone has either made or adapted it to display the extremely fine looking habaki. The hamon on it is fake. Metalugically you cannot create a hamon on silver anyway. The use of kamon on the saya is nothing exceptional and does not per se indicate quality. In late Edo and into Meiji the use of random Kamon on saya and other items became very common and cannot be reliably used to identify the actual owner. Many were made to sell to the tourists of the day. The remaining koshirae components are nothing at all exceptional. The most interesting thing is that habaki…..have you had that tested? You could take that and the blade to a jeweller (as Brian suggested) and have him run it past his XRF Analyser. That’s noninvasive and you could proudly show us the results. You seem loath to accept that as solid advice but instead rely on totally unreliable tests to reach your conclusions. As for boasting about the perceived value of your guns and how expert you are in looking after them…….we don’t usually do that on here. It’s vulgar.
  13. I mean to say I think the “fox” on the first tsuba actually looks closer to how the Japanese depict their wolves. Search for “wolf netsuke” and you’ll see why I think so. Japan had 2 species of wolves until the early 20thC .
  14. Good observation, I can see what you mean. I guess they used both techniques. Honestly…..I’ve never looked as closely as this before🙂 Do you think it possible that on these thicker strands of gold there is a “hump” of iron underneath and it’s still nunome over that? I’d love to see an area where a bit has come off or out! If it is narrow inlay it’s amazing that we don’t see bits that have fallen out especially on heavy handling objects like tsuba and Kozuka.
  15. Hi Reinier Phew, it’s a close one! In one image I think I can see the “turn back” mostly because the polish shows the different steel colour of soft vs hardened…..but better images with various lights would help…..maybe🙂
  16. Have a look at the closeup above of the Kao on the tsuba I posted. Nunome can be used to create a such a thick effect.
  17. Hi Dale 100% the Kao is just nunome. Under strong magnification you can see the cross hatching peeking out from around the gold. The whole area of the Kao has been hatched and the Kao simply applied onto it. Many people don’t believe that this thickness of gold which looks very “solid” is actually heavy nunome…..but it is. Tap the image …..hopefully you can see it.
  18. No. It’s really simple. Does the hamon go off the end of the blade? If so, fatal. If it hangs on, even rather narrow it’s still “alive”. Also beware of clever polishing techniques that create the illusion of a boshi where there is none
  19. The acid test involves a tiny spot, you could do it on the “nakago” end. It won’t damage it. The magnet test does not prove it’s silver. Nor does any ice test. Nor does any bleach test. The hamon isn’t a real hamon and the nakago looks totally wrong.
  20. Of course kissaki get damaged through use and very often reshaped. The reshaping can negatively impact the sugata and the aesthetic appeal but once the hamon disappears off the end of the end of the blade it is a fatal flaw. Definitely you are entitled to your views but 99% will disagree. There is a very big difference between a kissaki that has been remade and one that has no hamon/boshi left.
  21. That’s a provocative thing to say….and possibly very misleading. No boshi is a fatal flaw. On most swords it destroys the £value and often also the collectable interest. On some exceptional swords either by age or smith it becomes “tolerable“ simply because of rarity. A huge proportion of Muromachi swords (made in huge numbers) weren’t that great in the first place so to say they are acceptable or even more valuable with no boshi makes little sense.
  22. Have you actually done the acid test on the blade to confirm it’s silver? It would be very unusual to use silver for a tsunagi. Could be white bronze alloy. Also, not sure if you can actually get a hamon on silver…..can’t see how….nor on bronze for that matter. Is it a polishing effect? Any sign of nie or nioi? The habaki looks superb….but the rest of the koshirae are pretty ordinary.
  23. Ditto. Great forum, great availability of info, sellers, buyers…….well worth contributing towards.
  24. Is this the dragon you mean? If so nunome is more than capable of covering that surface area. Have a look at where I circle in red. You can see gold missing in small areas. Do you see evidence of inlay ie a hollow or carved out area? If I’ve got the wrong dragon please point the correct one out. Also, different thicknesses of foil were used.
×
×
  • Create New...