Wakizashi 350 years old ?

[Dolf]

Hello, I'm new in this forum. I have an old wakizashi. I would like an approximate estimate of the value.

I also put it in the military swords section, but a member advised me to try it here too.

I now know the following from Japan about the sword: Inaba Kuni Jyu Fujiwara Kanesaki. in Navy sword mounting. Length: 21.5"

Mihaba: unknown Jigame: The blade is itame hada well graied with jinie attach. Hamon: Niedeki gunome midare and Togari gunome midare mixed.

Special feature: Kanesaki was working at Inaba province.

Jidai: Edo perios Kanbun era.

The blade looks healthy and nice condition.

Honestly, I don't know exactly what all of this means, but you'll get the idea. I would be very happy about your help.

Thanks in advance

Best Regards

Christian

 

[SteveM]

Hello Dolf, 

It means you have an old blade that was put into a Navy scabbard, presumably for someone to use during WW2. It was relatively common for soldiers to outfit their family's heirloom blades in wartime mountings, and take them off to war. So you have to evaluate the blade separately from the mountings. The blade, if authentic, and in good condition, will be worth a few thousand dollars - maybe a range of US$2000 - US$4000. The better the condition, the more likely that your sword will be worth the high end of that range. The fittings are 20th century military fittings, so these are not so interesting to antique sword collectors, but they are obviously not worthless and have value, especially if the parts have matching assembly numbers, and if they all are bespoke for that sword (i.e. the parts were made specifically for that sword, and were not assembled after the war from various loose parts). If the fittings are all in good condition, the ensemble might be worth ~$5000.  

 

Things that will drag the value down: rust, fingerprints on the blade, small chips in the blade edge, disparate parts. 

 

Also, for a sword that is worth a few thousand dollars, the question of the authenticity of the inscription comes into the calculation. Forgeries are very common in the sword world. It was (and still is) very common to take a sword without a signature and put a fake signature on it to try to increase the perceived value of the sword. Ideally you would compare your sword to a known, authenticated, example of a Kanesaki sword. You would want some idea that the signature on your sword matches known Kanesaki signatures, but also that the sword style matches the style of Kanesaki swords.

 

Ideally, you would send your sword off to Japan to an organization called the NBTHK, who provides authentication services - but this can be expensive and time-consuming. Another organization, the NTHK, occasionally provides authentication services in North America. For a sword that is around the $5000 value or below, the question of authentication becomes problematic because the sword is often not valuable enough to justify authentication, and yet at the same time it is not cheap enough for bargain hunters to buy. 

 

I don't know if the signature on your sword is authentic or not. I have some doubts, but there were actually several smiths who signed with that same inscription. Several generations of master/apprentice used "Inaba-kuni ju Fujiwara Kanesaki". Regardless of the signature, it does look like a 200-400 year old Japanese short sword. But there are many, many unauthenticated short swords on the market. I would say the value of this ensemble is at the lower end of the range I indicated above (~$2000-$3000).