Intricately Carved Koshirea - Nagamaki Blade??

[IanB]

Getting back to the original item and leaving aside the daisho for the moment, let us look at what we are really dealing with. An unokubi zukuri katana blade in a carved wood / ivory / MOP koshirae. There is not much you can say about the blade because the photos are hardly detailed. The hi have been criticised as being too deep, too shallow etc, etc, but in fact they look well cut to me - following the shape of the shinogi and mune very well. The tang looks perfectly alright apart from the fact that somebody has recently tried to drill another hole and given up half way. As for the koshirae, the carving looks very well done to me. Artistic NO!! I don't particularly like the ivory / MOP inlays, but they are as good as the wood carving and the artist obviously thought they should be there. The tsuba is rubbish and an obvious western replacement. Its thickness suggests the original had an elaborate seppa set.

Now we come to what this sword is. Well it ain't a katana worn in the Edo period by a samurai. Had it been a wakizashi it might have been - I have seen plenty Edo period wakizashi in non-lacquered saya - some carved, some inlaid and some both. No, this is to attract the eye of a tourist. Remember there were buckets full of redundant blades about in the Meiji period and most tourists couldn't tell the difference between the bucket and its contents. What the dealers had to do was create things to catch the tourist's eye. A gold lacquered saya - that was only worn by a daimyo Honoured Sir. A carved wood saya with dragons - only used for dedication to a temple Esteemed Madam. And so it goes on.

Ian

[estcrh]

The market speaks.....Winning bid: US $3,227.77

[Tcat]

I knew this would fetch a good price.... why? Because - call it 'junk' or whatever - but it is of significantly higher quality than most other 'junk' you see of this kind. Sure, there are better examples, but as someone pointed out they would more likely be found on sale in a more prestigeous auction house.

 

Do not be surprised if this turns up again in 10 years time at one of said auction houses having been repaired correctly and with a more appropriate tsuba..

[sanjuro]

Strange......... Theres no telling is there? For the price, the new owner could have bought a higher quality but less gaudy or questionable sword. :?

 

We may well see it again much sooner than ten years hence..........

[estcrh]

  sanjuro said:

Strange......... Theres no telling is there? For the price, the new owner could have bought a higher quality but less gaudy or questionable sword. :?

 

We may well see it again much sooner than ten years hence..........

It is sad really, I see some nice swords being sold on the forum by members in good standing that are not questionable at all and have very detailed images which leave no doubt as to the exact nature of the sword, and the seller has to drop the price to a ridiculous level to sell...and then you see something like this....and the rest of this sellers not well described or pictured swords sold equally as well.

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

  Tcat said:

I knew this would fetch a good price.... why? Because - call it 'junk' or whatever - but it is of significantly higher quality than most other 'junk' you see of this kind. Sure, there are better examples, but as someone pointed out they would more likely be found on sale in a more prestigeous auction house.

 

May I highlight that there is people that don't share our specifics for collecting ?

Just now there is a WWII sword with a non standard metal saya-cap to protect the inside from rain for sale and I bet it's very sought off by specialists and might be it reaches this price.

 

Price paied doesn't mean the item is suitable for the standards this board is (or should be)

intended for.

It simply says that the buyer has both the money and the will to purchase it.

[omorik]

In the description it says the sword was given as a gift to a US Congressman after WWII.

 

I would think that speaks volumes?

 

Omorik

[Ed]

The price realized was more than I would have anticipated, but it is no surprise, stranger things have happened. Like it or not, there are buyers (I can't use the word collector) out there with tastes that vary.

 

Being given to a Congressman did speak volumes to me, it made me think; Would they have given a precious item to a gaijin congressman who probably didn't/wouldn't give a damn about it. Probably not.

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

  omorik said:

gift to a US Congressman after WWII.

 

Claims with no reliable documentation aren't worth the cyberpaper they'r written on.

Half of e-bay's Shingunto are from Iwojima, the other half from Okinawa and a good

thousand belonged to Kuribayashi...

[sanjuro]

Lets face it... many of the claims made on ebay are fanciful at best. When unsubstantiated then they are taken with a grain or three of salt. The more fanciful and least substantiated claims are merely taken with proportionally more salt.

Its rather pointless making such claims when they are not or cannot be proven, but there are those out there with a yen to own a sword and more money than is possibly good for them, and a faith in the veracity of all their fellow men. One believes what the heart wants to believe in spite of what the head may say.

[drbvac]

A treatise on "The psychological basis of purchases on E-bay' by the Nihonto Message Board :lol: