WhiskeyMike Posted November 2 Report Posted November 2 I’ve recently inherited a sword from my father’s great uncle. The story is that the sword and rifle were found in a hole in Papa New Guinea during WWII and was brought back home and lived in his closet until now. We would really like some help on learning about this thing. 1 Quote
Rivkin Posted November 2 Report Posted November 2 Good tsuba, the rest needs to be carefully photographed. Looks ubu, so high chance it will be clear what it is. Quote
WhiskeyMike Posted November 2 Author Report Posted November 2 Rivkin, what else do I need to take pictures of? Thank you for the reply. Quote
Rivkin Posted November 2 Report Posted November 2 Nakago, boshi, macro of the activity (hamon). Quote
WhiskeyMike Posted November 3 Author Report Posted November 3 I’m going to be adding more pictures. 1 Quote
WhiskeyMike Posted November 3 Author Report Posted November 3 Sorry dealing with terrible internet. Quote
Rivkin Posted November 3 Report Posted November 3 Oy vey. Somebody chopped wood with it, let it rust for decades and then sandstormed it for visual improvement. Likely no earlier than shinshinto, now in a considerably problematic condition. 1 Quote
Brian Posted November 3 Report Posted November 3 Good news is it's genuine...likely antique and pre-war. Bad news is the condition. Would cost thousands to restore. But if you are looking for a genuine Japanese item with history, you got it. Civilian antique mounts, the tsuba is quite nice and worth a few hundred alone. 3 1 Quote
uwe Posted November 3 Report Posted November 3 Tsuba is nice! Signed “美喬作” (Yoshitaka saku = made by Yoshitaka). Maybe Iwamoto lineage?? 1 Quote
WhiskeyMike Posted November 3 Author Report Posted November 3 10 hours ago, uwe said: Tsuba is nice! Signed “美喬作” (Yoshitaka saku = made by Yoshitaka). Maybe Iwamoto lineage?? What would something like it be worth? With all the damage I’m sure not much but I personally think it’s an awesome story Quote
2devnul Posted November 4 Report Posted November 4 Hi, Interesting finding ... 10 hours ago, WhiskeyMike said: What would something like it be worth? With all the damage I’m sure not much but I personally think it’s an awesome story How much is it worth? IMHO sword is a junk at this state. Unless it was made by desired/legendary smith then it isn't worth much -> nothing. Like mentioned by Brian, polishing will cost much more then you can get back when selling. Koshirae on the other hand, might give you few $. For example that Tsuba (guard) looks very tempting to me. I would say you can get for it 200-300$ easy. Might be even more, depends on condition and story behind author (singed). Same for Fuchi/Kashira/Menuki, if in good condition you can get another 200-300$ for set. Quote
ChrisW Posted November 4 Report Posted November 4 I would reserve any judgement on the value / restore-ability for a togishi's (a sword polisher trained to handle Japanese blades) opinion. They are going to be the final say on any nihonto in my humble opinion. Seek one before deciding what to do with this item. I would not sell this item before you know that opinion. 1 Quote
Bruce Pennington Posted November 5 Report Posted November 5 The close-in shots don't show them, but you can see them here: Quote
2devnul Posted November 6 Report Posted November 6 Nice 'woodcutter' you have Still, Fuchi/Kashira/Menuki/Tsuba looks promising. Can you post more pictures of them? Would you like to sell them? Quote
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