AUCTION 50: ANTIQUE MILITARIA, FALL 2024

A JAPANESE WAKIZASHI WITH A RED LACQUERED SCABBARD, 19TH CENTURY

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Start price: $400

Estimated price: $600 - $800

Buyer's premium:

A Japanese wakizashi with a red ray-skin handle wrapped in blue-green cord, a scabbard of red lacquered wood, and a tsuba of pierced iron. The handle bears two gilt-bronze menuki in the shape of dragons. Just below the tsuba, on the left-hand side, is a partially gilt depiction of a snake and two fruits in low relief, with an incised fruit on the other side. The scabbard bears a kozuka with a gilt-bronze handle showing cranes in the water surrounded by grass in low relief. The pommel of the wakizashi is adorned with two metal fittings which appear to show the same snake and fruit as seen under the tsuba.

Japan, 19th Century Edo or Meiji Period.

L: 29 in., (73.7 cm.)

Condition: The wakizashi is in good condition overall, the tang is not signed. Tsuba slightly loose. Expected signs of age and use throughout.