Another Mark Felton production of the Kaiser's collection in Doorn.
- Thread starter coert65
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KAGGR#1
Well-known member
Excellent video
Thanks for the post
Did I understand that one of the Japanese swords
had some parts stolen and where replaced in the 1960's ?
Steve
Steve Nick
Well-known member
Apparently so. It was sent out for a polish so it was undoubtedly a traditional blade. On some old swords some of the parts, such as the tsuba and the habaki can be worth as much as the blade depending on who made them. It's hard to believe that a qualified polisher (there are few outside Japan) would lose track of the parts. That would be unforgivable.
My guess is the blade went to someone who was not a certified polisher (togishi) to save money as polishing using a togiishi is expensive at ($50 - $75) per inch and takes about 2 - 3 years due to the large demand and few qualified polishers. So the sword was sent to an unqualified and unscrupulous person where the parts were "stolen".
John Josef
Well-known member
The job of curator is one that's being fazed out, the number of truly qualified people in these positions especially working for the US government and military are few and far between these days.
I've heard horror stories telling of several people who are in charge of making acquisitions buying reproduction items for museums and "dealers" charging original prices to the government.
As well as loaning items out only to get reproductions back. Sadly when you put people in charge who are unqualified for political reasons that is what can happen. Its unbelievable to be honest, this would never happen if you had someone in charge that was also an expert in the field, it would get caught immediately and not when a visitor brings it to their attention months or years later.
I've heard horror stories telling of several people who are in charge of making acquisitions buying reproduction items for museums and "dealers" charging original prices to the government.
As well as loaning items out only to get reproductions back. Sadly when you put people in charge who are unqualified for political reasons that is what can happen. Its unbelievable to be honest, this would never happen if you had someone in charge that was also an expert in the field, it would get caught immediately and not when a visitor brings it to their attention months or years later.