Lindus

Visited an auction today on behalf of a friend,listed were the following.....Japanese Naval mounted sword,Japanese Army officers sword with grooves and two holes in the tang,A good Japanese NCO sword,A Japanese NCO sword, Japanese pole arm with 4" blade. Although Some parts of the mounts were genuine, the kai Gunto was not Navy,not Japanese apart from the Kabuto gane,Shin gunto had only a gunto saya and Tsuba,one of the two NCO swords was rough but genuine while the second was a disstressed repro. The Yari ,well what can I say. Hours had been spent after removing genuine blades fitting acid etched repros,rebinding etc etc, the estimates were £400-£600 on the gunto & £150-250 0n the NCO. The auction owner was I believe genuine and bloody annoyed as they had come from a trusted dealer who used them on a regular basis,perhaps he too had not known , anyway he will withdraw them befor the sale. Problem has allways been with us, a new collector would perhaps have been very happy to have bought a grooved naval katana for £600 but may I suggest to new collectors,if you have the sligtest question mark, take a few pics or scan if illustrated on line or in the catalogue,publish here and ask the question. Keep the vendor to yourself for peace of mind but I doubt any NMB member would steal ya lead....................................................... Roy

Chalk the mei and use a flat bed scanner, this will give good easily readable results. Roy

Please post your name. As a new member posting questions all of the item needs to be loaded for us to see,often with odd mounts it is impossible to offer an opinion unless we have all the detail. Welcome to the NMB ,you will find this a valuable resource. Roy

How do you all get on with insurance?,recently had a problem, seems all usable and affordable carriers will not cover antiques,weapons,craft items etc, seems unless they can relate an item value to a guide,eg,Glasses, they will accept the money but decline the claim. Yeah I know this is typical of insurers but just waht will they insure, I have checked their fine print but it leaves very little........ Specialist companies are damned expensive, should we just send uninsured?,would save a bundle. Roy

Wonder if the "Favour" thing is similar to those given {Alledged} to Dr Compton way back , seems to me that the whole paper thing is full of worm holes..... Disscuss :| Roy

Had a hands on with this today,what a sweet little set up and nifty blade. Post some pic's of both the mounts and blade Geriant, interesting Hi, almost as though Milled, also very unusual menuki..... Roy

Hi David I know around twenty years ago Kagihara polished some for a friend of mine but doubt many would do this today as most polishers charge by the CM or Inch, even as often is the case with some Yari forms the price doubles the effort needed to polish arrows would not in cash terms invite this sort of work. If you are interested I could mention this to a Togi I know, PM me. Roy

This is from a sword I have, allways thought that as the Tsuka has two mekugi ana it would have been made and mounted for a martial arts man............ Hand forged in traditional style by the well known Gifu swordsmith Minamoto Amahide, it has full length well cut Hi {Grooves} on both the omote & Uru. Made to special order it is signed........" Minamoto Amahide ojite Suzuki Shouan shi moto kitau kore wo" Translates as "Minamoto Amahide forged this at the request of Master Suzuki Shouan" "Master"Suzuki Shouan leads me to think that that he was probably a Martial art sensei and either ordered this for a student or himself. The two Mekugi ana in the Tsuka also leads to that conclusion. Amahide's real name was Hideyoshi Fukumoto. He was one of 200 smiths that worked in the Seki Tanrenjo during the war,officially assigned to Tanrenjo in October 27th,1939. He was one of the Imperial Army's Rikugun Jumei Tosho. According to "Gun-To Tosho Retsui { Ryoko no retsu} compiled by Kurihara Hikosaburoin 1942,Amahide's blades were ranked as " Ryoko no retsu" ( Oo- Wazamono) among some 400 Jumei Tosho. That means Amahide though not top rank at that time was still regarded as a good Jumei Tosho. Blade length from Kissaki to Machi 63cm Width at the Machi 3cm Width at the Yakote 2cm Kissaki to Yakote 3cm Sori 1.5cm The Hamon is Gunome Midare. Hada can be seen in place but this polish unfortunatly did not bring it out well.. The fittings are of good quality with eight original seppa Brass Gunto Tsuba and Kabuto Gane with silver Family Crest {Mon} Sarute of the clasped hand type holding the officers original Gunto rank tassel. One splendid thing about this sword is the two indents and one hole, made I would suspect by either shrapnel or bullet's, the officer must have had the sword withdrawn from the saya at the time as no damage was done to the blade.!!!. The Nakago has three holes,two in the Tsuka to allow a second peg, this was seen as a sword that a Martial art man would have used . Roy http://www.collectorsloot.homestead.com

Thank you for that Ian,allways a cautious chap when Dr Turk and I were allowed access to the collection many years ago,I would insist that the curator inspected,signed out and in any items we took away for study. During the time we found several items did not match Turks earlier catalogue description or were missing from the collection,it seems that at some period a staff member treated himself to "Beer money". I have pretty much given up on the idea for two reasons, the first is the obvious historical lack of interest of the museum for the Japanese collection as their main interest is Cornish history, and why not indeed. The second is that around a year ago someone from the V&A came down and spent time reviewing the whole collection. We had concentrated pretty much on the mounts etc as well as the fine inro, my last communication with the current curator ended with " as soon as we have a staff member available we will contact you". As to them being cautious, good, but the museum has a history with me and I doubt that that is a consideration at this time. I mention the forthcoming exhibition as it is a chance to see some very fine work seldom if ever on display. Regards Roy

Well Bruno, this again opens the decades of debate on Showato and stamps. Really interested in seeing where this one goes. Roy

For any visiting Cornwall at these dates I would urge a visit to Truro museum, this collection is outstanding...while there perhaps you can "Blag" your way into seeing the Nihonto related collection. Opens September 8 to December 31. Roy Japanese Shibyama This highly ornate ornamental lacquerware was made in Japan in the 1800’s and became hugely popular with Western collectors. Pieces will be on display from the Royal Institution of Cornwall’s collection which is considered to be one of the best collections in Europe and housed here in Truro.

No,he is old enough now to pursue his career without me.... Roy

Yes did briefly drop by but was on the way out for the day with she who rules. "Better" was the wrong term as it was meant along the line of better for me. I Like the Tsuba a great deal and I suppose the thoughts were based on two basic things,my love of Kinko Tsuba and that in turn drew me to the subtle work on the reverse which to me is quite a beautiful & tranquil scene while the other is very much more "In your face". As you should know I have allways admired your work and was rather sad when I had to part with the full set of kosherei you produced for me way back when you were young and had hair . As to the polisher & I chatting regularly re your progress since we first met,treat that as you will,we have both enjoyed your success and as soon as the lottery comes good, could well be great customers.......well a couple of pints and some chewing whiskey. Regards Roy

Try a fiber glass pen,available from good art stores. it will work wonders as long as you avoid the soft metal. Roy

Spent some time looking at this Ford,why do I think the reverse {URU ?} is much better work???, worries me & Les. Open house for rebuff here Roy

Sorry George it was long ago and I think the question to Ron was re the Tsuka only, one of the swords of mine was by Okimasa/mitsu from Oki Island??, lovely sword in terrible mounts...sold it because of the mounts...did not know better then. Roy

Tony Chapman,now long gone sad to say. Roy

Had a couple in the past George,one had just the rough shape of a tsuka ,leather covered and tightly stitches on, spoke with Ron Gregory at the time who thought that as the mounts were late war it was simply a rush job rather than lack of material due to increasing need. What ever it looks like a damn nice blade. Roy PS The white cloth seen in pictures were just an added protection to the ito.

Odd,when I was into final stage polishing I would occasionally when bored just carry on, then as with a Kiyonobu katana {Had six and all were zero} this one had all the attributes of a goody, even utsuri. Unlikely with this but I wonder how many swords by lesser smiths have been dissregarded while a little gem hides beneath?. One polisher in the UK had a sword described by a shinsa team a "Country smith" and dismissed at the first To ken Taikai, had it for polish as the owner just loved the thing, it was he said one of the finest blades he had worked on. Roy

And then the headlines...."Genuine masamune sold for peanuts on ebay"..... Jokes aside,way back a chap offered me the worst bone mounted tanto I had ever seen, he wanted £100 for it!!!. The tsuka was hard and fast, the blade had been polished with chrome cleaner so no. I mentioned it to a collector in Edinburgh who bought it,turned out to be a first generation Yasutsugu....ya never know in some case's when gems disguised as junk float past Roy

Great horimono Bian, easy put down on the line, some fine work by 23/25 gen and even if not by certain standards bloody nice blades.... :lol: Roy

Interesting Brian, Wonder how this compound/chemical could be used in Nigui to enhance the final stage polish.? Roy

OOOOOOOOOOps meant 25th generation, but guess that would have brought the same reply.....Tanto? Just a thought on some Showa war period swords, have seen blades by minor smiths,Kiyonobu/Nagamitsu et al who seem when asked to make their best work have produced pretty good gendai. So how bad were his Showa works....?? Roy

Often even at the most prestigious arms fair a treasure goes un recognised...this did some years ago. Wish I could browse more often. Roy

I have been a fan of the Kanefusa for some while,once owned a first generation and now a katana & Tanto by the 23rd gen:, feel they are underated as modern swordsmiths....disscuss Roy