I did a talk show in Toyohashi City late last year, and one of the audience came to me afterwards and told me his family had an old set of armor, and wanted to know if I'd be interested in looking at it, and telling him if it was worth anything. Last Saturday I went to his house to meet his family and see the armor. First of all, the box was rare in the fact that despite it's poor condition, it was lacquered in red...
We opened it up and took all the parts out. Most of it was in very good condition despite the quality of the box. The armour's lacquer was very clean, the material pieces very good for their age, and the metal work exceptional for it's age. I dated the pieces to about 1780~1850, late Edo Period.
As the owner, Hirao San wanted to display the armor, but didn't have a stand for it, we set about making one! His parents weren't too thrilled about having samurai armor on display in the home, thinking it frightening, until I mentioned that Samurai families always displayed their sets in the alcove, and,...(little white lie,) ...the armour would protect the family! That and the fact that the armor was clean, meaning it hadn't seen battle seemed to calm their fears.
A few pieces of wood, couple of nails, hammer and about 30 minutes later, we'd made an armor stand and started compiling the armor in the family alcove.... (cont.)
I did a talk show in Toyohashi City late last year, and one of the audience came to me afterwards and told me his family had an old set of armor, and wanted to know if I'd be interested in looking at it, and telling him if it was worth anything. Last Saturday I went to his house to meet his family and see the armor. First of all, the box was rare in the fact that despite it's poor condition, it was lacquered in red...
We opened it up and took all the parts out. Most of it was in very good condition despite the quality of the box. The armour's lacquer was very clean, the material pieces very good for their age, and the metal work exceptional for it's age. I dated the pieces to about 1780~1850, late Edo Period.
As the owner, Hirao San wanted to display the armor, but didn't have a stand for it, we set about making one! His parents weren't too thrilled about having samurai armor on display in the home, thinking it frightening, until I mentioned that Samurai families always displayed their sets in the alcove, and,...(little white lie,) ...the armour would protect the family! That and the fact that the armor was clean, meaning it hadn't seen battle seemed to calm their fears.
A few pieces of wood, couple of nails, hammer and about 30 minutes later, we'd made an armor stand and started compiling the armor in the family alcove.... (cont.)
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