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Sword Information * Shinsa Update 2/14/18 *


Prewar70

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Well I can't believe how time flies, approaching 2 years ago.  Shortly after this thread and discussing with Roger, I sent the sword to Paul Martin.  He examined it and like many others had doubts as to the validity of the signature but felt it was a good sword.  He also had it examined by a couple of others and same conclusion.   We decided to polish and submit to NTHK thinking if it didn't pass, they might at least make an attribution.  It did not pass, and they did not give any indication as to possible school or smith.  So we discussed removing the mei, repatinating, and submitting to NBTHK thinking it would should pass.  I struggled with removing the signature, even though it wasn't authentic.  I finally decided to go ahead with it, and felt that I was in the best of hands with Paul, and the sword was already in Japan so might as well push my remaining chips to the center of the table.

 

Paul contacted me two days ago.  It received Hozon papers and was attributed to Monju Shigekuni, 2nd generation.  As I have not seen the papers yet, I asked if this was a Monju den attribution or specific to Monju Shigekuni.  Paul said it was Monju Shigekuni and this usually references 2nd generation.  He was a well regarded smith, rated Jo-saku and Wazamono for cutting ability.  His father is one of the best Shinto smiths, and was rated Sai-jo saku.

 

I feel like I did ok, especially being my first time for all of this.  I'm excited to get the sword back so I can share pictures but that probably won't happen until late March.

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Well done, thanks for sharing.  I missed the thread the first time, so I skimmed it.  I thought the mei was pretty well cut and you approached the problem exactly the right way.  Be sure it is gimei before removing the mei.  That is the approach I have taken on a couple of occasions.  I like the mounts too, but assume it is now in shirasaya.

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John, I did not have a chance to have a tsungai made during restoration in Japan.   Honestly I missed requesting one because I kept the koshirae here in the US not thinking straight being my first go around with the whole process.  I can have one made here hopefully if I decide to keep them.  Military mounts don't excite me much, so I was considering selling them.  Any thoughts on keeping the package together vs. selling?

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John, I did not have a chance to have a tsungai made during restoration in Japan.   Honestly I missed requesting one because I kept the koshirae here in the US not thinking straight being my first go around with the whole process.  I can have one made here hopefully if I decide to keep them.  Military mounts don't excite me much, so I was considering selling them.  Any thoughts on keeping the package together vs. selling?

100% keep it together, good mounts like that are hard to come by and I think keeping the history of the sword is more important and will increase the value in the future.

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This thread is quite old. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one, unless your post is really relevant and adds to the topic..

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