Francis Wick

Thank you for this example. Do you know if this one was authenticated? I just I’m struggling to find other examples. It could mean one of two things. My Sword is gimei which objectively I doubt as the signature is well done small kanji and finely chiselled and seems to be contemporary with the age of the nakago ( rusted away and smooth edges in places )

Sage advice 🙏🏽👍🏻

I think you’re right it’s not machi okuri like I thought , Jusdi made a sketch which shows also it can’t be machi okuri. You are correct

Thank you Jussi your input is so valuable and appreciated! Your scratch makes me rethink the idea of the machi where it is and it makes complete sense that it is in the original position with your sketch 👍🏻 I am increasingly convinced it is late muromachi but be damned if I can find any other ones signed the same way from this period. I wonder if there is a way to get it looked at in North America by the NBTHK or NTHK ? I guess it would have to be polished first ? Thank you again 👍🏻

Wow amazing resource and great info thanks so much

Thank you Robert im not even sure there is an existing act to govern these things. The guy who has challenged me on imports more than once is the same person every time and won’t tell me who he works for. It’s all a bit nebulous and strange . I think it’s good to ensure that people don’t steal things from others or own things that are banned or illegal but this seems to be more of a form of harassment than anything else.

I had a more careful look at some of the items and a lot of them are pretty suspect actually. Quite a few of the Tsuba appear to have a base metal that has been painted over or had something applied that can be rubbed off. Shakudo remains shakudo It does not look like silver or copper underneath when you rub the surface. 😳 good eye Curran

It might be a hand finished casting ?

Thank you Rivkin as Curran points out , caveat emptor ! There are quite a lot of other nice things at this auction though. I might try get one of the Menpo.

If there are any members who collect Tsuba there are some really beautiful ones coming up at gallerie Zacke . Also some high end armour pieces https://www.zacke.at

Think the original machi was here

Sorry I can try some better pics 😣 thank you !

Thank you Jacques. It is still very thick with little surface wear. I don’t think it has had a huge amount of polishes. The blade is almost 1cm thick at the machi. No open grain anywhere. Whether it was mass produced I won’t be able to say I guess it depends on smith and period more than anything