lonely panet Posted January 31, 2015 Report Posted January 31, 2015 Hello all, I hope you are all well, and still collecting in these expensive times. heres my new piece, its a very interesting dress sword, much higher quality then the normal stuff, with many interesting points it has plum blossom instead of cherry silver mon done with plum blossom push button done with matching blossoms has a silver foiled copper habaki and the blade is a real cracker, that appears to be steal with etched hamon instead of nickel plate not shown is a leather sword bag, that I will post soon. any and all thoughts are welcome, Quote
Brian Posted January 31, 2015 Report Posted January 31, 2015 Interesting that it has a "proper" nakago with yasurime. I would almost expect a hamon based on that tang. Nice hi too! But hamon does look etched on. Obviously a much higher quality example than normal. Wonder if there may be a hamon under that etching? Or a recycled Shinshinto blade? Brian Quote
Kai-Gunto Posted January 31, 2015 Report Posted January 31, 2015 Congrats. Thats a Nice parade sword. Quote
jason_mazzy Posted January 31, 2015 Report Posted January 31, 2015 the fact that it has a real habaki is quite interesting. Quote
lonely panet Posted February 1, 2015 Author Report Posted February 1, 2015 Hi guys, I found some interesting points to the blade construction that are simular to the GENSUI-TO, but the sword bag has some interesting points aswell. there is a faded mark, that to me COULD be either a large cherry/plum blossom or the KIKU ????? Quote
Geraint Posted February 1, 2015 Report Posted February 1, 2015 Hi Hamish. I can't help with the sword bag but what a find! Interesting that the mon is the same as the blossom decoration on the sword. Fuller and Gregory ('96) assert that the plum blossom is found on swords, "associated with Manchukoan and Chinese Republican and Nationalist swords and dirks but not used on Japanese military swords." They warn that it is easily confused with a double cherry blossom but from what I can see yours is not the later. The blade is in kogarasumaru sugata which is out of the ordinary. Again, Fuller and Gregory describe them as rare and speculate that they are associated with Imperial Guard or household swords as wellas gensui to. They also note that they are usually found with habaki. As with almost everything there are exceptions to this and the sparse engraving on the backstrap suggest that this is not the case for yours. I attach, (or at least I think I do?) an image of a kyugunto with a kogarsaumaru blade, also with a silver foil habaki, but clearly not belonging to a high ranking officer. Perhaps it is the case that a well to do family commissioned your sword for one of their own and added special features to the standard pattern. Whatever the case yours is a very nice find. All the best. Quote
lonely panet Posted February 8, 2015 Author Report Posted February 8, 2015 Hi guys, I have sent a email to Jim Dawson asking if hes seen anything like it and if he can help, will keep you posted regards Hamish Quote
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