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Bizarre way to buy a daisho! IMAGES ADDED

Matsunoki

By Matsunoki
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Matsunoki Grand Master

Matsunoki

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Posted

Are you sitting comfortably?….then I’ll begin. This goes on a bit!…sorry.

 

I am recounting this event, not for egotistical reasons, but because it’s almost unbelievable nowadays. 


Last week, during my routine trawl of online auction sales etc I came across a few swords in a smallish regional auction. This auctioneer sells coins, Militaria, medals, weapons with a few Japanese pieces from time to time.

Two SEPARATE LOTS caught my eye…a Wakizashi with just one “collage” image showing it dismantled. Looked decent. One member on here even posted an image of the Mei asking for help! Brian persuaded him to try it himself 🙂

The other was a large katana, very briefly catalogued “unable to remove tang cover” sold “as is”. Looked very very decent.

I left  it another couple of days and then had another look at them online. Decided to spend a few more minutes enlarging the 2 images. Then I noticed…..both had a large dragon nicely lacquered on the saya. Backwards and forwards between the images…surely not….oh yes….the Auctioneer had split up a daisho!

I asked for a couple more images of the katana…..sure enough…matching Hawk chasing sparrows tsuba….matching dragon saya….no doubt a Daisho mounting. By now each had 45 people “watching” online. The wak had attracted several punchy online pre-auction bids but the katana was sitting at £230!?!

The auctioneers obviously didn’t have a clue what they had done so, on sale day I drive on dark icy roads to have an “in hand” look. Get there and the swords are not out for viewing……they are locked in a back room in case someone cuts themselves……but I gain access. There are some issues…..the Ito is damaged…..one menuki missing….one horn kashira lost. The wak has a lovely Mt Fuji midare  hamon with sunagashi and dense hada etc. 

The katana is very substantial and from the one online image I thought it classic Shinshinto….and so it was. A beautiful heavy blade with bo hi both sides, a lovely sugata, soft old sashikomi polish, active nioi choji hamon with delicate ko nie  and ji nie etc etc . Sure enough the tsuka was utterly jammed, no one had even tried to remove it so I left well alone. The sword was almost (I hoped) guaranteed to be signed and dated…..classic high quality shinshinto. Worth a gamble I thought. It will be ubu and signed and maybe dated.

Both swords filthy but blades in good original polish…a few scratches on the wak but that’s all.

Now the heart was really thumping. I register to bid and enter the saleroom with half an hour to go. There are only two other people there….that’s all. Auctioneer, a lovely young lady, was in full swing selling bayonets and a few guns. The swords were consecutive lots with the wak coming up first.

With three lots to go 3 members of the auctioneers staff come in with phones in hand and I listen as they contact the phone bidders. I could clearly overhear each conversation. Couldn’t believe what I heard….all of them were only bidding on the Katana, not on the wak which came up first. Surely someone else had twigged they were a daisho? Panic…..had I got the lots numbers wrong or mixed up. Calm down, you’ve checked them at least ten times.

So, the wak comes up. No phone bidders interested, no room bidders interested (I think they’d gone to sleep!), just me vs the internet so I decided to bid whatever it took…I’d come this far….the red mist descended. I bought it for a very reasonable bid.

Now the katana….now I’ve got to buy it whatever…..me vs the 3 phones. Can’t believe it but they drop out and it gets knocked down to me again, very reasonably imo.

Im stunned…..no one else saw they were a daisho???….and one with lovely blades and (dirty) mounts! Did that really just happen or was it another optimistic dream? Grateful thanks to the auctioneers for a couple of truly lousy online images and bare bones descriptions.

Pay up and drive home almost shaking with excitement and disbelief….which at my age doesn’t happen that often.

Out come the tsuka removal tools. It (katana)definitely hadn’t been off for eons….possibly never since it was last in Samurai hands. Took me half an hour of very gentle persuasion before a lovely nakago with full length hi and the Mei of Nobukazu (noted pupil of Korekazu) was revealed together with a date of 1855. No doubt in my mind that it’s “right” ….it’s a really beautiful and hugely impressive blade.

Some tsuka restoration required but the blades, saya and tsuba simply needed the appropriate cleaning. It was whilst doing that that I noticed the dragons were lacquered “in confrontation”….a lovely subtle touch.

A truly bizarre chain of events which you would never believe could occur nowadays.

All the best. Colin

 

 

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Matsunoki Grand Master

Matsunoki

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22 minutes ago, francois2605 said:

Will you share some pics ? :)

 

Hello Francois

The auctioneers pics are in the links above but yes I will post more pics once I get them tidied up a bit. For example the Katana tsuka will not go back on without some slight easing, it was rock solid and had shrunk slightly. 

All the best

Colin

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Alex A Grand Master

Alex A

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Posted

Well done Colin!.

 

Difficult from those images but the kogai has a bit of a Ko Kinko feel about it.

 

As for the Tsuka, Bal does great work, perhaps ask him.

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raaay Experienced

raaay

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Posted

Hi Colin , i did see these swords and wondered why they were not being sold as a Daisho , it was the dragons on the Saya that looked like a matching set to me at the time  , just your luck that some auction houses do not know what they have for sale , well done ,

 

Ray 

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Bryce Experienced

Bryce

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G'day Colin, well done! I completely missed your daisho, but I did win the British 1796 sword presented to a survivor of the famous charge of the light brigade, which was a few lots earlier.

Cheers,

Bryce

 

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Okan Experienced

Okan

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I don't like it. Terrible nakago. Not one bit jealous :) Joking aside, I'm very happy for you. Super exciting. What colour tsukamaki you have in your mind? Going black again or fancy a yellow-ish brown tone? 

 

 

Matsunoki Grand Master

Matsunoki

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14 hours ago, Okan said:

What colour tsukamaki you have in your mind?

Hi Okan

well, I’ve got a few things to think about. I would prefer to source a really good mixed metal daisho F/K rather than go with the  existing black horn kashira and also one menuki and a kurigata is lost so I’m not going to rush which is unusual for me! Ideal would be to go for dragon mounts…shakudo nanako….and dragon menuki….but they must be originals. Then a matching dragon kozuka and kogai.  Not holding my breath!

But to answer your question, when I can speak to the restorer with all the bits in my hands it will be black.

All the best. Colin

Matsunoki Grand Master

Matsunoki

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On 1/23/2023 at 8:33 PM, Bryce said:

G'day Colin, well done! I completely missed your daisho, but I did win the British 1796 sword presented to a survivor of the famous charge of the light brigade, which was a few lots earlier.

Hi Bryce

Congrats on your purchase. I must confess to having had little awareness of the lots that preceded the daisho, in fact the ceiling could have fallen in and I would not have noticed. Talk about nervous……🙂🙂

Glad that you had some luck as well. Enjoy your new prize.

All the best.Colin

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