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Craigslist find


Dreg

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Imagine my surprise scrolling through Craigslist, when I stumbled upon a wakizashi, that while appeared to have seen better days certainly felt like something special. The seller knew this was not an ordinary sword, and knew it was a much greater value than what i practically stole it for, but his grandfather purchased this and kept it in an heirloom collection until he passed away.

 

I have done my homework to a degree, and I am here simply to ask opinions as to my next steps. There are a lot of openings which are not deep at all, as the shinogi appears to be very high. If it has been polished much, it wasn't recent. There is damage to the Ha, and while hagire isn't present, the damage is not mild. I am not sure if this is repairable or completely devalues the sword. I am mostly interested in knowing if this is something I should pass on to another collector, or if this is truly worth the financial effort of restoration on my part. 

 

That said, into the meat and bones. I haven't had time to measure the blade in depth, but it is about 66cm overall (ko-wakizashi?) in a hira-zukuri it seems, as there is no yokote and the boshi is not indicative of a repaired broken blade. The hamon appears to be sudare-ba/midare, the polish is such that it is faintly visible, and it is impossible for me to make out grain. The nakago has only one mekugi ana and is sotoba-gata and is signed omote-mei with a very strong Yamoto no kami Yoshimichi and ura-mei with Tanba no kami Yoshimichi. I am not sure if this is the first or second generation, and is it possible both father and son worked on this? or is it more likely his adopting of "tanba"? My guess is Kan'ei blade, 1620-1640?

 

Namely I want to know if this is simply something to hold and appreciate or is it worth (and is it possible) doing the restoration? I have someone in mind for the restoration if so, and if not, it has been an absolute treat to look at this in hand. 

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Hi Dave,

Do your homework on the mei (is it right or gimei) and if you think it is right, then only a properly trained polisher can tell you if it is restorable and if it makes sense to try..  Bob Benson in Hawaii or at a stateside sword show would be a good person to show it to.  If you think this is gimei, then don't bother.

Grey

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Dave, looking at the overall condition of the ji (& the metal in total),my educated guess is that a polisher would have to remove too much metal to restore this blade. Large chunks from the ha, plus extensive corrosion, have pretty well done this poor blade in. Enjoy it for what it is.

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Dave,

this is not a HIRA ZUKURI blade, but it was originally a SHINOGI ZUKURI one which had all edges ground down by an incompetent person. This is a heavy damage to the substance of the blade. As mentioned above, it would surely be a good idea to show it to an expert before taking any further action,  

Just recently, a similar blade with these two signatures was discussed here on the board.  

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Who ever removed some of thd rust removed a fair bit of importatant steal unfortunately and rounded all the edges. A pic with the habaki off would reveal a little more about it but hard to see this being fully restored. As others have mentioned the best way to really know if there is hope is to get an expert to look at it in hand. Good luck

 

Greg

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sorry for the delayed response, have been away from the computer. Thank you all for your input on this blade. Personally, I wish I could say as to whether or not it is salvageable, but I agree with the majority here and will save the final call for an expert. I wish the condition were better, but regardless, to hold this in your hand is still something. That and the thought that anything that old could randomly just pop up out of the blue is sure something. Thanks again all!

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