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Help Needed With Katana Identification. Picture Set 1


George_Hakes

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Hello All,

I am new to the forum, I would be very grateful if you could give me your opinions on this Katana. I work as a photographer at an auction house in the U.K, I had this item come in today. I know there are a lot of fakes about, but looking closely at this, the wear and ageing look very authentic and I thought it might be worth looking into. Although there are a few things that lead me to be dubious about it's authenticity, firstly the dragon Kashira, secondly the blade itself, it is very bright and has that distinctive wavy edge. I don't know much about this area as I'm more into Germanic Militaria, but I know this is not one of the common NCO swords, or a military sword, but it has the leather military jungle cover on the wooden scabbard. I'd also be very interested to know what the Kanji on the silk means if anyone can translate it? I'm sorry I haven't been able to dismantle the sword to show you any hidden markings on the tang, but it's not mine to do so. If you could let me know your honest opinion, just thought I would regret not getting hold of it if it is indeed an Officer's private katana. Will add the other pictures in the next post.

 

Best Regards

George

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That sword looks real enough.

The tag looks like the usual surrender tag. Likely the name of it's former owner. Marked down when the sword was turned in.

You never now about these. A look at the nakago (tang) would tell a whole lot more. And, some better shots of the blade.

Mark G

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Hello All,

 

Thanks for the prompt replies. I'll try get some better shots of the blade, I was having to use a little compact camera and the lighting was really bad, I'll get some with the DSLR tomorrow. Would you like shots showing the blade profile, blade tip, and the grain? Also, just to be on the safe side, how is the best way to go about removing the handle bindings and tsuba to reveal the nakago without causing damage?

 

Many Thanks

George

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George: There is a little bamboo peg through the tsuka (handle) near the tsuba (guard) , Just tap it through and holding the handle with your left hand just smack your hand with the right to see if it loosens up a bit. If not tap on a piece of wood on both sides of the tsuba holding the blade wrapped in a towel and it should loosen up.

 

OR http://www.thesamuraiworkshop.com/_arti ... irae-nuki/

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Hello All,

 

Thank you for the replies, it's fascinating to be able to give a name to this sword. I took the little bamboo peg out today, it was rather stiff, I don't think it's been removed for many years! I was quite happy to see that no one had attempted to clean the tang. I tried to get as good a picture I could, had to get the light just right to be able to see the markings. I have uploaded an image here:

http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/681/dsc0015xh.jpg

 

If it doesn't work, let me know and I can email you the pictures. Any information you can provide me from the markings is gratefully received. I'm going to try bid myself hopefully. If you have any ideas on value, let me know.

 

Best Regards

George

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The sword was sold on Saturday 4th Dec. at Bateman's Auctions in Stamford,Lincolnshire,UK.I had emailed the auction house for images to include a view of the tang,the images I received were not very helpful in determining the quality and value of the sword and I was told that a view of the tang was not available.

I phoned and left a bid on sale day and decided to have a browse through NMB and purely by chance (must be 1,000,000 to 1 shot) came across this post and recognised the sword by its surrender tag,tsuba,habaki and menuki and to my amazement the tang and a signature.

I phoned back and upped my bid but didn't buy it,I'm sure it will surface at an arms fair as it was bought by a dealer local to the saleroom (I'm guessing maybe Garth Vincent).

I'm sure that you guys can see exactly what was going on here without me spelling it out other than to add that none of the information NMB members very kindly supplied reached either potential bidders or the auctioneers that employ the poster.

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