Warning Reproduction

[Iekatsu]

Just a heads up that this is not Edo period, please do not bid on it.

Aoi Art Menpo

[uwe]

Indeed!

[Justin Grant]

Such a shame for this shop to be peddling this as anything other than modern. Truly a shame. 

[Hokke]

For those like myself who do not have any experience with armor, but curious to learn, what are the stand out features that clearly demonstrate this menpo is modern vs edo period? 

[Justin Grant]

Hokke

 

In layman’s terms, the bent anchors on each side, these should be a sharp 90 bend on real, repos have a round edge. 
 

on the inside, you see two rivets near the lower teeth, another modern approach, no rivets in original, and harder to differentiate from pictures but it’s painted and not urushi and the odoshi is not laced properly. 
 

these are the first impressions, but it’s completely modern. 

 

[Hokke]

2 hours ago, Justin Grant said:

Hokke

 

In layman’s terms, the bent anchors on each side, these should be a sharp 90 bend on real, repos have a round edge. 
 

on the inside, you see two rivets near the lower teeth, another modern approach, no rivets in original, and harder to differentiate from pictures but it’s painted and not urushi and the odoshi is not laced properly. 
 

these are the first impressions, but it’s completely modern. 

 

Interesting.......thank you

[uwe]

Almost all that Justin pointed out!

 

Furthermore the orekugi (small hooks on the cheeks) are obviously made of wire* and pointing backwards. If you have a look inside, the ears (mimi) as also the “bridge” of the nose piece (hana) seems to be welded not riveted. The whole appearance aside, which looks suspicious, the lacquer on the inside is not properly applied, and as Justin mentioned, I also doubt it’s urushi at all. 
 

* first giveaway to spot a fake menpō. 

 

[The Blacksmith]

@uwe  Interesting that you mention the septum of the nose being, 'welded, not rivited.' I have only owned two mempo, and both had the nose raised , not rivited at all. I have also made a nose for a mempo for a dealer, and that I raised in a single piece without any riveting, did I do this wrong?

[uwe]

@The Blacksmith “normally” the nose itself is embossed from one sheet. At some Myōchin masks in tetsu sabiji you can, however, see that the upper lip is riveted to the body of the mask. 
 

On the mask in question I just wanted to draw attention to the weld spot...

[Iekatsu]

Sold for much higher than it should have, someone is going to be very upset when they realise.

[uwe]

Buyer beware…it can’t be repeated often enough! 

[yoshi]

I already purchased in Aoiart in the past they are serious i dont understand what happen, period Edo no easy ! crazy !!

[uwe]

Tsuruta San is more specialized in swords. The armor (and related) descriptions are “questionable” at times…

No offense at all…he is a nice guy. We have had some beer together back in 2013 as far as can I remember 😉

[yoshi]

I have known for around twenty years with mainly nihonto yes but from time to time there are beautiful pieces of armor as you know 😉.

 I remain very surprised by this error on their part .  

[yoshi]

Thanks for the alert Iekatsu well seen!