George Posted February 4, 2015 Report Posted February 4, 2015 This is the sword that was in the estate of the Pacific PT boat commander. I had posted it earlier, in Jan., but it got lost in the transition. The tsuka and saya were both covered with leather. The daughter, who now owns the sword agreed to have the leather cover on the tsuka be removed. The leather was laced on with a leather thong. The thong was very dry and brittle, and broke into several pieces. I felt like a vandal. However, there are now pictures of the tsuka and nakago, as well as the mei. I will also try to include the original pictures. Here are the new ones. ] I feel like an idiot. The pictures that I would like large (mei) are small. Others are way too large. I would like to blame it on my camera. If the mei are indecipherable let me know, and I will try again. George Quote
jason_mazzy Posted February 4, 2015 Report Posted February 4, 2015 I like it. you might have a winner. Quote
cabowen Posted February 4, 2015 Report Posted February 4, 2015 Mei might be Bishu Asai ju Kanemitsu saku (made by Kanemitsu, a resident of Asai in Bishu) with Amaterasu Okami and Hachiman Dai Bosatsu invocations on the other side.... He was a Rikugun Jumei Toshi and his family name was Takeuchi. He was from Aichi Prefecture. 1 Quote
George Posted February 4, 2015 Author Report Posted February 4, 2015 Chris, Thank you so much for the extremely informative reply. I take it then that this sword was made in the WWII time period. I do not see a star anywhere on the nakago, so am surmising that it did not go to the military directly. With the mekugi in place, the tsuka is too short. There was a remnant of a leather spacer shaped like the seppa that was between the seppa and the tsuba. Even with the spacer, the tsuba, habaki, and seppa had about an eighth of an inch play. Some of the looseness was taken up by the leather covering the tsuka, and some by what I thought was a leather thong wound around the tsuba. On closer inspection the "thong" turned out to be a woven shoe lace. Are the tsuba and tsuka from an earlier period? It makes me wonder how this all came about, and why. Was it a common practice to cover the tsuka with leather? The leather covering the saya has a wheal, and appears to be professionally done. The tsuka, on the other hand was covered competently, but not professionally. The woman who owns the sword is recently widowed and would like to sell it. Other than the mysterious history, does it have enough value to pursue selling it? Many, many thanks, George Quote
jason_mazzy Posted February 4, 2015 Report Posted February 4, 2015 of course it has value. I can not surmise an actual value BUT I do find these items can be quite hot on ebay and I have seen some go for many times what i thought there worth was on ebay and other times the price is spot on. Quote
Brian Posted February 5, 2015 Report Posted February 5, 2015 The hi present make me suspect this was not a regular wartime military sword, but something special order or a high end custom sword made for someone of high rank. It was maybe made before he became a RJT or outside of his military work. I am sure the miltiary collectors will have better ideas. However, just the presence of that hi would increase value and interest. Just a blind guess, but I think she would get between $1500 and $3000 for it. Brian Quote
George Posted February 5, 2015 Author Report Posted February 5, 2015 Brian, That is very helpful. I will let the owner know. George Quote
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