Curran

I'd rather someone ask Ted Tenold in on this one. I don't want to anger Brian by talking about an ongoing auction- but my initial reaction at seeing this was, "D*m*, I hope someone takes a ballpeen hammer to the hand of the guy who did this." To me it looks that some of the other blades have had mild acid used in their polish. Perhaps this poor child was forgotten overnight... Others look relatively okay. The damage runs north of the horimono and pools all the way through the horimono. Just not cool... Maybe if I had a few drinks I could find it groovey! But it currently looks like chemical landfill erosion to me.

I agree with Stephen that you should post better photos of the fuchi kashira. The wrap looks like it was well done at some point, but has lost its integrity at this point. All it may need is a rewrap. I do not like the tsuba, but that is me. I cannot see the fuchi / kashira very well in the photo, but from the menuki and the way the wrap was done... I suspect the fuchi / kashira are okay. If so, then maybe the tsuba was swapped out by someone else for the original tsuba. This is just theory at this point. Further evidence will make or break my suspicion. On polish pre or post restoration, I think it depends on the restorer. I have had it go both ways. On a wak for shirasaya, he made the shirasaya first and then the wak went off to polish. It had to be slightly adjusted afterword,, because the polisher removed so much. But all in all it was fine. Please get a photo of the fuchi / kashira if you have time.

Ascher-san (Nidai), Nothing wrong with those menuki. Look like fresh cut pine branch, of the Shinto New Year's festival? Nice little things.

Paul, Thanks. I have that one on my shelf. I felt I had read that before. Good luck Martin.

Leroy, Search the archives of this board or the message board for articles on photography by Darcy or Richard George. Those two know volumes more about it than most of us.

Paul, Was that in the Yasukuni book? I seem to remember reading something similar and wondering about how that would all work out. There is always a lot of debate about mizukage = saiha , but I've seen various things done... use of scalding water from a steam kettle, use of heated copper block (with and without meter so as to get the desired temperature for softening the machi for shortening) etc.. So the use of oil and water cooling troughs in conjuction with these other tricks can produce some odd results of all sorts. Feel free to use the photography analogy. The wife is the classical photographer. I hoped I got the analogy right, as I didn't want to wake her to ask if I was mucking it up. CCC

Hey man.... Don't lump Shimosaka in with Milt's Bungo! I like Shimosaka. The signed pieces are often decent to very good. If one of the shinsa teams is now dumping unsigned pieces into Echizen Shimosaka... that is just wrong.

Quick answer from more of a fittings collector ?: Think of it in photography terms- Water: high speed / short exposure shot. click- the millisecond of existence is burned or crystallized. Oil: slower speed/ longer exposure click- slower cooling speed, the resolution is much more blurry and less defined. Water: you get more. But the high stress of the rapid action can also mean a lot more goes wrong. *Tink!* blade breaks in quenching. Oil: Makes a weapon with less or little artistic value. But chances of it surviving the process are much higher.

I saw these auctions. Canadian seller. I noticed because there was a tsuba supposedly with Tokubetsu Hozon papers. I'd seen it (or its twin) before and wondered if it was the same one (now with the papers). Anyway, I didn't see how much the tsuba sold for... I'd passed on it once long ago and was surpised someone had gone to the expense of T.H.ing it. Anyway, last I checked- it was selling for the price of the papers. I saw that "Jumyo" with the Kanenobu papers and wondered who the heck the seller was that they didn't bother to look at the papers. But otherwise looked like a good papered sword at a very good price. The only thing that made me wonder about the auction was the kissaki. I didn't know if it was a photography issue, or if the NBTHK would actually paper that sword with a broken kissaki. Looks like a nice sword. He mentioned Benson in one of his auctions. Maybe he got his wires crossed about what Benson told him about the papers. How much did his Shikkake wak go for?

Yes, congrats to Anthony. Heck of a find. Hats off to Stephen for his legwork on this. In one of the Kapp books it has a writeup on Keith, and I'm glad Stephen shared the info with the group so I can post it in my book and notes. I'd love to see this blade some day, if it is ever decides to go walkabout from England again. I'm trying to be a fittings collector, but this tanto has a great story to it.

I agree that 20 items before the peanut-gallery is a better show than 1 great item. The collector has to decide how much the peanut gallery matters to him. Different collections for different audiences. I have a few pieces in my own collection that aren't very upper crust...but dosh gawn it... I like them. I'd recently put some things on eBay and looked around at what others had for sale. I marked a few tsuba to follow. Many / most ended at fair prices with some high and a few low. But several of the Po-Edo / Posservice ones I had marked went for multiples that made me scratch my head. Several tsuba went for 2x, 3x, or 4x what I think they are worth. I looked into the top bidders a bit, and in some instances they seemed legit bidders. In others you had bidders whose bidding activity was 80% on Posservice with them having bid or won a few small items in Japan. There was no smoking gun of evidence that said to me that posservice shills. Currently they have 100% feedback... but it does make me wonder.

Peter, Rich, Milt,- I'm not quite dead yet. Just a bit overwhelmed these days. Pete was spon on this one, and by the time I read the post he'd already nailed it down. Nothing I could add. I do wonder if the current NBTHK would just chunk this up to Shoami. I took out my own suspected Tochibata (or Owari, but I still think Tochibata). I've seen several now and the iron has a packed quality to it, as if it were softer than I would expect of Seki-shu, but has been hammered or worked to a compacted state, yet not overly dense or brittle. It feels that it has give to it. Not sloppy or dirty like some Namban irons, but rather that it has been worked differently. Makes me wonder what else, other ratios might be worked into it. One commentor put forth the theory that they were influenced by Portugese imported metalworkers. It is tempting to say "that must be it!", but I leave it open to further evidence. It does remind me a bit of some Spanish Toledo / Salamancan ironwork, so it is tempting to believe that. Not everyone thinks Tochibata is a distinct school. Because of the general layout, I can see a Shoami call. But the consistency of seeing certain designs or design elements (not just the rope work) with this sort of compacted iron makes me feel that it is a distinct side school, at least during the 1600s. There seems to be a sharp dropoff in the quality of later pieces.

Strider, I did not have any difficulties. The books arrived very fast. It is my understanding this is still an "early release" version in which Darcy wanted to hear about any problems specifically with the book. I don't think he can do anything about LULU themselves. I do not think you are "too late", but rather too early. I edited an earlier version for Darcy, and I must say that even I was pleasantly surprised in the improvements made between the proto-release and this early release version, -as he added more.

Stephen, That is fantastic to hear and to have the blade resurface. A missing piece of early history returned to us. I remember this was an eBay find. I hope the owner keeps excellent care of it, or is willing to pass it on to a collector who respect its historic value. I never knew Kieth, as he passed before I started collecting again- but I have heard many stories about him from some of the NYC club members. I would like to have met him, or seen more of his work.

Brian- Condolence. I remember you or another member shared these photos a long time before. It is quite a collection. There was an exceptional collector in this area many years ago. He'd been a weapons system designer for Rockwell and others during the 1950s-->1980s, travelling all over the world and bringing back whatever he wanted in whatever fashion he could. When I started collecting Nihonto again in the 1990s, he had me visit. Amond his hundreds of items, he only had one Japanese sword. His exact words were, "Only one, because learning Japanese swords would take me another lifetime." Like Gus, he too was ~old school~ with quite the library and files of hand written correspondence. When he passed about 7 or 8 years ago, many of the items of his collection where already earmarked for certain other collectors and certain museums. One of them was very similar to an item in Gus' photo- and I wondered if it went to him when Tek passed, or if Gus just owned a very similar one. I see the tsuba on his wall, and it looks like he has a soten or two and what appears a nice looking tsuba of Higo "bamboo leaves" design, though it may be a Shoami version. A nice display. Again, my condolence. Curran

Jean, Martin, Ford, Peter, and all- I'd not read this thread till now. It was a bit surprising to see a link to my own auction. Funny thing is that the fuchi/kashira is the only thing not to sell. I thought it was the best thing I had listed. I do not know that there are too many hard rules with the Higo koshirae, as there are with things like complete Owari koshirae. I may be wrong. I have had a very long O-tanto (too early to be called a wak.) being done up in Higo koshirae. (It has been away with the artisan for 3 years, after 3 years of finding the items to assemble.... so don't try this at home unless you want to wait 6 or 7 years), but yes Ford and you have touched on most of what I know. There is an awful lot of subtle variation among the Higo sub schools, not to mention the copy cats know knocked off their designs and fact that much of it is not signed. With so many Higo sub schools, calling something Higo can mean a lot of things. Still, the gold paulownia or arabesque frillwork on iron, often with an umbari and a higo school tsuba, and the distinct shapes of the higo fuchi/kashira are all pointers. But a lot of it got mish-mashed into frankenstein pseudo-higo koshirae during late Edo when the "Edo Higo" stuff produced in Edo came onto the market and you got higoesque type stuff that often didn't have the polish or cleaness of the earlier Higo work. If I get my o-tanto with koshirae back this year, I will post a picture.

Pierre, Beautiful website. The pictures tell many stories to me. You are living a very different life. I hope you keep a diary or weekly record.

Sharp humor always welcome.

The book is good. It illustrates very well many important points in the Bizen timeline. I recommend sitting down with Darcy's book, Nagayama's Connoisseur's book, and perhaps the Bizen article from Art&Sword Vol. 1. Then read through it in one or two sittings and refer to Nagayama (or Nihonto Koza) as necessary. I recommend Art&Sword because some of the illustration in Vol 1 article were useful to me when I first started studying Bizen and couldn't get enough visual information out of Nagayama. The writeups with the oshigata and Darcy's commentary gave me exactly what I found lacking in reading through Nagayama as a newbie so many years ago.

Pete, Thank you. I thought it was that way, so I was surprised not to see mention of Juyo Tosogu shinsa on the NBTHK website.

Just to add to Jean's comments- There are several forms of the character we call "Kane". The form you have on your sword is most commonly associated with Yamato work, though definitely not exclusive to it. Many of the Yamato smiths would move elsewhere in Japan and set up shop. Many of them moved to Mino and changed the "Kane" they used to another form. So, depending on the version of the 'Kane' character and supporting evidence like Jean used, you can get a good ballpark guess. More photos would help- but my initial impression is the same as Jean's. Heck of a gift. Nice tsuba if you want to add a photo of that as well.

The Juyo shinsa for swords is in September. I always assumed the Juyo shinsa for tosogu would be the same month. I see no mention of this in their calendar. When is Juyo shinsa for tosogu?

Mike, I came across a similar one for sale in Japan. See photo. Seller says it is Kyo Shoami, but the seller isn't known for being that accurate in his descriptions.

Just off the top of my head- I thought I recognized this tsuba, or it is very similar to one I remember being up for sale in Japan. I do not remember the details of when it was for sale, but I do remember that the conclusion reached at the time was that it was made by a modern tsuba smith in the late 1960s or early 1970s. Again... I have no evidence to back this up. Just my memory that I am fairly certain I have seen this tsuba before and wondered about it. I have no memory of the hakogaki.

Yah ya two, Choshu was my reflex guess too. But I wasn't sure. I've not really sat down with the books to reason out what characteristics makes Choshu be Choshu. Some designs are distinctly Choshu, but others like this one pop up across several schools. Still, dark iron and the wave pattern in that sort of focal point as if it were meant to be best viewed at 1 to 2 ft away.... made me think Choshu.