Treasure hunt begins in England

Chapter 202 Knife Equipment

The most conspicuous items on this booth filled with all kinds of military items are several Japanese samurai swords. For these western countries that opened the door to Japan, this exotic weapon has a lot to them attraction.

Therefore, on the Pacific battlefield that year, the Japanese trophies that both Americans and British wanted most were all kinds of samurai swords.

Historically, this obsession with oriental items has also negatively affected Japan itself. For example, after the country was opened by the great powers at the end of the Edo period, the Japanese also specially produced a large number of samurai swords for foreigners.

Although Ireland did not participate in the Pacific War, due to its proximity to the United Kingdom and the fact that there are a large number of Irish in the United States, there are also a large number of local Japanese knives.

It's just that the quality of the knives brought back to Europe is uneven because of the average level of identification of Japanese knives by these Europeans. For example, the five knives on the booth are like this.

Three of these five knives are command knives used by Japanese officers during World War II, but two of them are the lowest-level non-commissioned officer's knives, and the other is a later-type lieutenant's knives.

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

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

The other two knives were all classical samurai swords, but when Liang En focused on the well-preserved knife, he discovered that the Muguan, Yuantou and Tan were all stamped parts.After pulling out the knife, he was even more disappointed, because the blade of this knife was obviously only heat-treated, and even the curved blade was machined.

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

It's just that for many cheap knife manufacturers, whether it is a combination of steel with different properties or precise heat treatment is an overly complicated process, so they will directly use machining to achieve this goal.

Because the first four knives were all made from outsiders, Liang En seemed a little careless when he checked the last knife, but he soon discovered that this knife was different.

"These knives were all found 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 this knife, the bearded middle-aged man immediately talked about the history of finding these knives. I have to say that this habit of telling stories seems to be common to all antique dealers in the world.

According to Liang En's experience, even if there are not many stories about this antique, these merchants can make up stories, and they often make up stories 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 nose.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 knife with a bit of history, but it is not a good knife, because as long as it is a slightly higher-grade knife, there will be no such dust inclusions."

"However, the equipment of this knife looks good, and it is also a handmade product. So I think this katana is probably the batch of katana made by Japan after it was opened to cater to foreigners."

"Well, young man, it looks like you're quite professional in this area." After Liang En finished his 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 at a price of 2 euros, which is already a big deal for this flea market.

After leaving the booth, Liang En looked at the samurai sword in his hand.It must be said that the knife does not look very good in condition.

The handle and scabbard were already mottled and ugly, and the leather covering the scabbard had been worn a lot, exposing a section of inner core composed of two pieces of wood.

In addition to dust, the blade itself has some rust and many gaps on it.Looks like a well-worn weapon, too.

As Liang En said before, after the founding of the Black Ship, many Westerners ordered a large number of samurai swords in Japan, and under such circumstances, the exported samurai swords are naturally mixed.

For example, the knife in Liang En's hand is one of them. It is obviously a thing that put together the parts of those old knives and took them out to fool foreigners.

The reason why Liang En was willing to spend money to buy this knife was not because of the knife itself, but because of the metal accessories on the knife.

According to his visual inspection, the size of the metal equipment on this knife is more suitable for the Taidao from Amakusa Shiro in his hand, and it is just right for his Taidao to be equipped with a scabbard that can be used when going out.

For Liang En, whether it is the tan, the edge or the head, it is obvious that this newly bought knife is a hand-made fine product. Although the raw material is only iron, the pattern on the top can tell that the maker It should not be an ordinary craftsman.

In particular, there is a giant dragon rushing out of the sea embossed on the sword. Although it looks a little more ferocious and less majestic than the Chinese-style dragon, this ferocity is placed on the On the samurai sword, it seems to complement each other.

For Japanese swords, it is the most important part of the sword.It even developed into an independent art in the Edo period, so a good knife can sell for hundreds or even thousands of euros.

In particular, Liang En could see that the shape, edge, and body style of this knife were very consistent, and it seemed to be a complete set, which was obviously more valuable than a single piece.

Although Liang En didn't know who made this knife because of lack of research on it, but 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 to himself as he walked out of the market with the knife in his hand. "You can find such niche gadgets when you go shopping."

It may also be because this thing is too small, so Liang En was able to get these things here at a low price.

After all, for those Europeans, it is already very good for them to recognize that it is a Japanese knife. It is not something that an ordinary street trader can do to see the details inside.

The other party probably regarded Liang En as a tourist from East Asia and wanted to make a fortune. Otherwise, it would be absolutely impossible to charge a high price of 1000 euros for a broken knife that was worth two to three hundred euros at most.

"So sometimes no one will know whether they make money or lose money in the end." Liang En thought while buying a freshly made hamburger and eating it.

"For example, if he hadn't pretended to be a tourist from the East today, the other party might have become more vigilant and wouldn't have sold this thing to me."

(End of this chapter)