Starting My Treasure Hunting In England

The most conspicuous thing on this stall filled with various military items are several Japanese samurai swords. As for these Western countries that opened the door to Japan, this exotic weapon has a great influence on them. attraction.

Therefore, on the Pacific battlefield, the Japanese trophies that both Americans and British wanted most were various samurai swords.

Historically, this obsession with oriental items has also had a reverse impact on Japan itself. For example, after the country was opened to the outside world by the great powers at the end of the Edo period, the Japanese also manufactured a large number of samurai swords exclusively for foreigners.

Although Ireland did not participate in the Pacific War, due to its proximity to the United Kingdom and the large number of Irish descendants in the United States, there are also a lot of Japanese swords in the country.

It's just that because these Europeans have a very average level of appraisal of Japanese knives, the quality of the knives brought back to Europe is uneven. For example, this is the case with the five knives now on the stall.

Three of these five knives were command knives used by Japanese officers during World War II, but two of them were the lowest-level sergeant's sword, and the other was a later-type lieutenant's sword.

After getting permission to step forward and take out the blades from the scabbard, Liang En found that the blades of the three knives had no traces of forging or detailed heat treatment. They looked like flattened iron bars.

Liang En was naturally dissatisfied with this kind of junk, so after a brief inspection, he focused on the other two knives.

The other two swords were all classical-style samurai swords. However, when Liang En focused on the sword that seemed to be well-preserved, he discovered that the eyes, edges, and tangs were all stamped parts. After pulling out the knife, he was even more disappointed, because the blade of the knife had obviously only undergone simple heat treatment, and even the curved blade was machined.

You know, the reason why the blade of an authentic Japanese sword is curved is because different steels are used in different parts of the entire Japanese sword blade, so it naturally bends due to different degrees of shrinkage during heat treatment.

However, for many cheap knife manufacturers, whether it is a combination of steels with different properties to form a blade or precise heat treatment, it is too complex a process, so they will directly use mechanical processing to achieve this goal.

Because the four knives in front were all strong-willed, Liang En seemed a little careless when checking the last knife, but he soon discovered what was different about this knife.

"I found these knives in the attic of an old house in Dublin a week ago, but because they are new and old, the degree of preservation is also different."

Seeing that Liang En seemed to be interested in the knife, the bearded middle-aged man immediately talked about the history of finding these knives. It must be said that this storytelling habit seems to be common to all antique dealers around the world.

According to Liang En's experience, even if there is not much story about the antique, these merchants can make up a story, and they will often make up the story with ups and downs, inducing the impulse to buy in people's hearts.

Liang En himself is this kind of antique dealer, so it is naturally impossible for him to be led by the other party. So he pulled out the blade and looked at it, then pointed to a place on the blade and said.

"This is an ancient Japanese sword with a bit of history, but it is not a good knife, because any high-end knife will not have such dust inclusions."

"However, the equipment of this sword seems to be well-made, and it is also a handmade product. So I think this samurai sword is probably one of the batch of samurai swords made after Japan was opened to satisfy foreigners."

"Okay, young man, it seems that you are quite professional in this area." After listening to Liang En's analysis of the knife, the businessman showed a slightly helpless expression on his face. "So please make an offer."

Two minutes later, Liang En reached a deal with the businessman for 1,000 euros. For this flea market, this was already a big business.

After leaving the stall, Liang En looked at the samurai sword in his hand. It must be said that the state of preservation of this knife does not look very good.

The handle and scabbard were mottled and ugly, and the leather wrapping the scabbard had been worn away, revealing an inner core made of two pieces of wood.

As for the blade itself, in addition to being filled with dust, there are also some rust stains and multiple chips on it. It also looks like a battered weapon.

As Liang En said before, after the founding of the country by Kurofune, many Westerners ordered a large number of samurai swords in Japan. Under such circumstances, the exported samurai swords were naturally mixed.

For example, the knife in Liang En's hand is one of them. It is obviously a piece of old knife parts put together and used to fool foreigners.

The reason why Liang En was willing to pay for this knife was not because he liked the knife itself, but because he liked the metal equipment on the knife.

According to his visual inspection, the size of the metal equipment on this sword matched the size of the tachi from Shiro Amakusa in his hand. It was just right for him to have a scabbard for his tachi that could be used when going out.

For Liang En, it is obvious that the knife he just bought is hand-made in terms of the tandem, edge, and eyes. Although the raw material is only iron, the maker can be seen from the pattern on it. He shouldn't be an ordinary craftsman.

In particular, the sword is embossed with a giant dragon rushing out of the sea. Although it looks a bit more ferocious and less solemn than the Chinese-style dragon, this ferocious aura is placed on the sword. On the katana, they seem to complement each other.

For Japanese swords, the sword tanner is the most important component. It even developed into an independent art in the Edo period, so a good tanto can be sold for hundreds or even thousands of euros.

In particular, Liang En could see that the tantum, edge, and style of this knife were very consistent. It looked like it should be a complete set, and this was obviously more valuable than a single tandem.

Although Liang En didn't know which master made this sword because he had no research on it, but judging from the overall workmanship, it should not be something that ordinary craftsmen can make.

"It seems that God knows that I am short of this now." Liang En thought in his heart as he walked out of the market with the knife in his hand. “You can find such niche items when you go shopping.”

Maybe it's because this thing is too niche, so Liang En can get these things here at a low price.

After all, for those Europeans, it is already very good that they can recognize it as a Japanese sword. Wanting to see the details inside is not something that an ordinary street merchant can do.

The other party probably mistook Liang En as a tourist from East Asia and wanted to make a profit. Otherwise, it would be impossible to charge a high price of 1,000 euros for a broken knife that was worth at most two to three hundred euros.

"So sometimes no one knows whether you make a profit or lose a loss in the end." Liang En thought as he bought a freshly made burger and ate it.

"For example, if I hadn't pretended to be an Oriental tourist today, the other party might have been more vigilant and not sold this thing to me."