Lindus

Or....... Roy

Hi David The Kabuto gane,Menuki et al are all Shin gunto not Kai dont ya think?. Roy

Looks like an Army not Navy sword, certainly the mount are not Kai Gunto. Painted characters are for assembly not signed , also agree thsi is anti rust metal, sort of stainless Iron. Roy

Glad it was only $83,000,feel a whole lot better. Roy

Is this in the collection of a member by any chance???if so what would it be worth today. Roy

Also Lempertz in Colne. Interesting re Malcolms comment on Print condition. In the eighties my old friend Dr Turk asked if I was interested in buying a "Good" print by a famous man, he showed me this crumpled,rubbed vision of uglyness...(see below). Declined the offer as he wanted £400 for it.. , then asked if I would post it along with some others to Lempertz in Germany. A month or so later he called to say it had made a then world record price of (as I remember it ) 8000DM... moral is ignore the state if signed Sharaku. Roy

Sometimes when polished and put into shira saya either a wood habaki is made or I have seen that an integral Habaki is carved into the shira saya tsuka. Asked way back why and had a two option answere, {1} it was to allow the original habaki to be used with a sunagi on the original mounts. {2} it was a cheaper option. It is simple enough to make a habaki to fit original koi guchi. Roy

Well done mate,you have worked bloody hard for many years Now two things need to happen.... (1) Get the Kosherei back (2) As when an artist snuff's it, their work traditionally sky rockets................ Roy

Hade two very similar mounts,both traditional o'Wakizashi with butchered and threaded nakago. One as I remember it was signed "Bishu osafune Suke......" Roy

Of course it could be said that a "fatal flaw" is a market/financial problem,if you like the blade,do not intend to make a short term profit from it then why not have a go. Seems to me that many Juyo swords are deficient in Boshi so dont dissmiss a nice blade so easily. Just before the NMB falls on me like a flying elephant, providing the price relates to the problems,you may well learn much from the sword. A similie, way back I saw a Yasu kuni sword, liked it very much but was told by an eminent collector of the time that it was "Just a Showato of no interest to anyone" so, as the finite volume of blades goes on, it may well be assesed as OK. :| Roy PS Fatal, means if you are in combat it may break allowing your oponent to kill you,if this scenario applies do not buy it. PPS, Sue and I collected the work of English potter Mary Rich,not just her "Good" work but her kiln failures, never will these be of "Value" but great fun.

Interesting, I was under the impression that it was pretty much impervious to any thing. Have had some superb lacquer items in the past with no problems, is it that lacquer on Saya is different from say cabinets,Box's etc?. I live within a mile of the sea is that perhaps a problem solver..... Roy

The print edge has at some time been trimmed,the whole print is very fragile so kept under glass. I have my own research but would appreciate your thoughts as well... Signed Nanrei,art name of Nishigawa Sukenshu. Published Morita of Osaka c 1758, first edition c1747 possibly from the series Higo waka ehon kamu no yamu " Poems by Samurai,nobles & court ladies" OK,shoot me down softly. Regards Roy

What can I say old man, you have spent more hours in a dark room full of books than me thats for sure....Splendid stuff and many thanks Malcolm. But one last challenge...... Roy

Yes , good luck, but around every corner a small or large treasure lies, is this not what collecting is about . Roy

Saw a bundle recently, some with genuine gunto mounts, PLEASE folks ask here......or as I have done way back with the "Throat stabber...waki with the whole kissaki broken off" treat it as a steep learning curve. Roy

Fellowship of the sword mei, may I suggest that you should "Chalk" your mei and use a scanner to produce images,easy and allways a good result. Roy

Not my field of interest but they are damned nice,will be interested in seeing what the membership has to say. Roy

In case you are a'bed, this is the question...who the hell did these??, have a pair that seem to depict horrible murders.. Help. Roy

Malcolm, you know your stuff sir. I have collected prints for many years and have a number of reference works but have to say you have filled in some gaps. Now Are you up for a couple of challenges? Roy

Thank you Malcolm, splendid link & comments. Have six tryptics by the man, all signatures are virtually identical. Regards Roy

I too have an Amahide in gunto mounts,near exact same mei. Could it be that this man{ See Morita san's thread below this} had blades made by Amahide for officers who were also martial art guys??, each has two mekugi ana in both nakago and Tsuka which I am told is an indication that the owner would also be a cutter?. Roy http://collectorsloot.homestead.com/gt5.html

Have a few prints by Chikanobu{C1890} always liked the work by this man although not top rank. This framed example has been enjoyed for many years but today I was asked how this fine detail could be produced from a wood block....bear in mind that the chap casting the net is only approx: 2" x 2" and a tiny section of the tryptic where the imperial yacht is coming into harbour. Also the colour graduation in the sky. Would appreciate some thoughts on this. Roy

Yes thanks John, guess that many of us will benefit from that, in fact one just has. Roy

Unlike the German /Jewish scenario the Sino /Japanese atrocity has allways taken a rather lower aspect, the sword in this case is less important that its inscription. Although we on the NMB are true lovers of Japanese art and of course the Nihonto, if this is genuine and I can see no debate as to why it should not be,forget the polish etc and consider the importance of the mei. We all love aspects of Japan,but to deny other aspects while constantly refering to German,Russian,African etc atrocity seems rather ...............................perhaps rusting away is not such a bad idea. Roy

Whatever we may feel about this and having seen many photographs of atrocities committed, this is an important historical sword. Should in my poor opinion be left unpolished and donated to some not so obvious museum. The other side of this coin is that polished and offered with translation I have little doubt in a world where human skin lamp shades fetch big money, this could well buy a new car...... Roy