New Arrival / comments wanted

A. G. Maisey · 10th December 2009, 09:39 PM

Re the hilt Danny, I do not have any idea what it might be. If you have followed our hilt material guessing games you will understand that it can sometimes be pretty difficult to say with any certainty what material a hilt might be from. More often than not I don't get involved in these guessing games.

Re the blade, from the photos I don't think that this is a gonjo iras blade.The proportion seems wrong for gonjo iras, and in a gonjo iras blade the gonjo is usually indicated by a line in the place where we would normally find a joint.

If you remove the hilt and have a look at the tang (pesi) you may be able to gain some indication as to whether a gonjo was ever fitted, or not, but even this inspection may not provide positive evidence one way or the other. If you find a slightly larger diameter in the tang immediately above the blade base, it is very probable that a gonjo was once fitted that has now been lost.However, the absence of this increased diameter is no gaurantee that a gonjo was never fitted.

A better indication might be to look at the width of the blade base. When you remove the hilt, I suggest that you post a photo looking down directly onto the blade base.

10th December 2009, 09:39 PM	#8
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,992	Re the hilt Danny, I do not have any idea what it might be. If you have followed our hilt material guessing games you will understand that it can sometimes be pretty difficult to say with any certainty what material a hilt might be from. More often than not I don't get involved in these guessing games. Re the blade, from the photos I don't think that this is a gonjo iras blade.The proportion seems wrong for gonjo iras, and in a gonjo iras blade the gonjo is usually indicated by a line in the place where we would normally find a joint. If you remove the hilt and have a look at the tang (pesi) you may be able to gain some indication as to whether a gonjo was ever fitted, or not, but even this inspection may not provide positive evidence one way or the other. If you find a slightly larger diameter in the tang immediately above the blade base, it is very probable that a gonjo was once fitted that has now been lost.However, the absence of this increased diameter is no gaurantee that a gonjo was never fitted. A better indication might be to look at the width of the blade base. When you remove the hilt, I suggest that you post a photo looking down directly onto the blade base.