Iekatsu

I agree with Uwe, late Edo period. Concerning the rust, knock the lose active red rust off with ivory/bone and then apply oil.

A nice gift indeed. You might want to work at the dislodging the worst of the active rust before you oil, this can be done with ivory, bone or hard plastic.

I agree with the others, a nice looking kabuto overall.

A good Sashikomi polish is best in my opinion, much better when on display also.

I agree with Uwe, the Kura appears to be period, but the restoration is modern. It was likely restored so that it could be used, and the price likely reflects that.

I agree with Uwe, not Edo period. The tells are in the design, finishes and fittings.

The first is Showa period, the second is composite, but made up from Edo period components, some of which are in rough shape. I would recommend waiting and getting some books.

For me it is how clean the plates, construction and the finishing of the rivets are, both inside and out. I agree with Uwe on the translation and also agree that it has likely never been mounted or perhaps only mounted once. It is possible that the date is Gimei, but I would still place it on the later side of the Edo period, even without the date. It is a really nice looking Hachi by the way, good shape and form, and being dated is rarer than being signed.

An Edo period Hachi for sure, I think you can rule out Koji.

Ko-kinko for sure, a nice little example. With out an XRF test there is no point speculating on the material composition, observations based on the colour only goes so far. Definitely don't have it cleaned.

Thanks for sharing these Piers, much appreciated.

Dating anything that is not recorded, dated or present in archaeology, is rife with difficulty. Often the only clues we have are in the style, motif, construction methods/techniques and materials. All of which are further confused by opinions/information that that has been disseminated and repeated by well meaning experts without sufficient evidence.

I do the same, any mention of swords will have the package flagged for sure.

The vast majority of San-mai Tsuba, including all the examples in this thread are from the Edo period, they are mass produced and generally poor quality. Pre-Edo examples exist but they are a very different beast. Papering for San-mai Tsuba is pretty bad, the attributuons are all over the place and many that get papered as Ko-kinko/mino should not be.

The file marks is how the gold is attached, it is pressed in to hold it in place. The file marks are visible because over time it has squashed in further and has worn. This is honestly really rudimentary stuff, there is no confusion here.