ebay tachi, legit?

[drdata]

A live auction, not mine, and I have no plans to buy it. The BIN price is a cool 29.5Gs

 

Something about the bonji seems off to me. I can make out a kado kanji, so seems to be Japanese at least.... Mounts are a bit loud. Perhaps an export item?

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/180747456960?ss ... 1423.l2649

 

Curious what folks feel about this item.

 

Seller has 100% + feedback, and has sold many nihonto items, more than a few with such horimono. Many past items have had their pics taken down, and out of Hungary, not that there is anything wrong with that, I guess.

 

Regards

[cabowen]

The quality of the carving on the habaki is amateurish. The location and quality of the horimono point to later additions and are not well done. The polish in many of the photos also looks poor....

 

That is what I notice at a glance anyway.....

 

Not my cup of tea.....

[runagmc]

I wonder if the seller accidentally added an extra zero on the price tag...

[Curgan]

A tachi restored by Lohman? I think it was an old, neglected (and probably tired) blade restored with fancy koshirae and horimono that hide flaws...

 

That's my amateur opinion anyway...

[Kevin]

A Meiji tourist piece based on an old, tired blade? It's not just the amateur engraving on the habaki. The other metal fittings look crude; the lines on the tsuba don't flow properly, the work is clunky and 'uneven', it appears to have evidence of gas bubbles, and all in all suggests a crude bit of metal casting that's on a par with the average Indian village silversmith. The dragon's head is garish, and would make the sword difficult to use - did they ever use dragon's head's like that on tachi, cos I can't recall a genuine non-touristy one. :-/

 

The bottom picture of the sword before restoration shows that these fittings were original to the sword; they are not recent additions or repros. The whole thing has the air of something done to please the Western market and their ideas of what a Japanese sword should be. :-/

 

As for the horimono, it might have been put there to hide a flaw or it might have been done to make the piece more attractive to tourists who knew nothing of genuine craftsmanship.

 

Kevin

[Geraint]

And the lower tachi hanger is on the wrong way around. If I was going down this route I would be tempted by the Phoenix head tachi koshirae on Aoi Art for considerably less, no blade admittedly.

http://www.aoi-art.com/fittings/koshirae/05129.html

[drdata]

Thanks for the comments. I think my tastes have improved, in that, things designed for Westerners are loosing their appeal. ;O

 

Cheers

[checkit]

It is clear that all of the fittings are cast copies. Look at the photo in the museum book - every pore on the dragon's snout is carefully carved. Then look at the Tachi for sale - typical "melted" look with loss of detail due to the casting process. And the other fittings all show casting bubbles, with the carved vines clearly just cast in.

 

The Horimono work is VERY poor, and looks new, which it must be, as who would have done such poor work in the Samurai era? I have a modern copy of an older blade, made in the 30's, that is 50 times better workmanship than this.

 

I wouldn't offer $2,000 for the whole rig. Just wait a few years, and you can get a better Tachi from China for $500

[Lindus]

Having had both Dragon and Ho tachi of decent quality, the Dragon head had shakudo cloud formations on gilt copper with the dragon emerging the whole saya length. Gold Tokugawa mon on red nashiji , while the Ho tachi had plain gold lacquer with gilt mounts etc, both sets of mounts were similar to those shown but one had a good gendaito while the Dragon head tachi had a decent Shinto blade.

Probably all produced in the meiji period and like any tourist bring back, come in a vast range of quality & price. Having said that I think way back I read that these were dress tachi for events such as Hawking ???.

Roy