Mystery peice

[Nihontocollector19]

Recently found this thing on ebay I'm not sure if it's worth picking up any thought if I should get it restore by Fred lohman and if I should get it mounted

[SwordGuyJoe]

What is the mystery? It's not immediately apparent? It's a koshirae for a kyu gunto - and a pretty nice one.

[Peter Bleed]

Well, gee. Checking any of the easily available books shows that it is clearly and simply a Type 8/19 Court Style Army Sword, also called the 1873 Dress Sword. It also appears to be an active auction so I am not sure that we should be discussing it.

Peter

[raven2]

You are right, but I am not sure that the books are easily available to everyone.

[Geraint]

Perhaps we could allow ourselves the leeway to say that any thought of having it remounted by anyone should go straight out of the window as it is a relatively scarce item and should be preserved exactly as it is.............

[Brian]

What's wrong with remounting it? Any mounting would likely involve alteration of the blade, and not the fittings at all. It had a blade originally....

 

Brian

[Lee Bray]

How do you remount a mount?

Blades need mounting; there is no blade.

Unless we're talking about remounting a tsunagi?

[drbvac]

Could you not keep an eye out for a blade of the proper size and not particularly valuable and adjust it to fit the fittings? After all it is they that are the attraction - not the blade itself - I may even have one in the shop that would be close for display purposes

[Jean]

I will never adjust a blade to fit a koshirae, I could do the opposite.

[Drago]

Police "saber" - judging by the symbol.

[Kai-Gunto]

I wouldnt do anything ,just keep as is. Rare pattern.

[drbvac]

IS it a police sabre? - many of those were decorative and had a cheap chromed blade from what I recall .

[Kai-Gunto]

IS it a police sabre? - many of those were decorative and had a cheap chromed blade from what I recall .

Not police , its army.

[lonely panet]

morning all,

please don't remount it, all you will have is a PUT TOGEATHER piece, and there is no shortage of those on the market.

 

The lack of a mekugiana, point outs that the blade would be held in the tsuka by a threaded nut on the end of the nakago. this usally means the blade fitted to this koshare would have had a lot of reshaping done to the nakago.

 

I have seen traditional blades which have and this done, and traditional nihonto collectors don't think highty of them, using the term

"molested" to describe them.

 

just my humble thoughts

regards Hamish

[Lance]

I wanted to add: most interest in these type of mounts would be from militaria collectors, any restoration would most likely decrease it's value instead of enhancing it, best to preserve it as is.

 

Regards,

Lance

[Nihontocollector19]

Looks like a lot of interesting point of view from most people the fact remains I can see how much diverse opinion on this site. Arnt we here to learn and help others with our knowledge not ridicule others books arnt affordable to everyone

[cabowen]

books arnt affordable to everyone

 

While not wishing to be seen as an elitist snob, frankly, if you can't afford books, how can you realistically afford to be a nihonto collector?

[sanjuro]

Chris.

 

You can't. Then again you also cant realistically claim the subject of this thread to be nihonto. :?

[Geraint]

Woah! Easy everyone.

 

The original response regarding books was I think directed at the reply which suggested that this was a kyu gunto. We all agree that once you start to learn about nihonto then you would be well advised to spend some money on books but let's not pile in on that one just yet.

 

Andrew, our expertise is often in limited areas of the subject, hence what you might see as conflicting advice. Some people are very interested in swords of the type you posted, others specialise in gendaito, others will have a particular period or school that they are devoted to. Everyone wants to help, just that some advice is better than others for any particular topic.

 

This is a rare mount and should be preserved as such but fitting a blade to it will not do anyone any good as several people have pointed out. It is well worth collecting from the point of view of those interested in military swords, many collectors would not be interested as their focus would be the blade itself. Someone has removed the blade, possibly because it was damaged beyond repair, possibly because they thought they would get more for the blade alone, who knows? Stick with it and this is a fascinating hobby whatever avenue of collecting you decide to go down.

 

All the best.

[SwordGuyJoe]

Woah! Easy everyone.

 

...I think directed at the reply which suggested that this was a kyu gunto...

 

I misspoke and am a knucklehead - Sadly, I do own books that would tell me otherwise - I didn't take the time to pull one out because I was trying to understand what the big 'mystery' was. Gladly, I didn't take the time since and oddly my life still feels complete.