Kinko menuki modeled as mollusks in high relief, worked in shakudo with gold highlights, and unsigned. Menuki are the small ornaments placed under the cord wrap on either side of a Japanese sword handle, both to fill the hand and to decorate. The supplier lists no school, period or measurements and grades them only as used, so the relief work and the gold in the photographs are what you have to judge by.

Sea-life motifs make a change from the dragons and crests that dominate many fitting collections, and high-relief shellfish in dark shakudo with gold picked out on the shells show well under a lamp. These suit an Illinois collector building a set around a water or shoreline theme, or a restorer who wants antique menuki for a handle rewrap. Because relief this deep is vulnerable to crushing under a tight wrap, many owners choose to keep them cased rather than mount them.

Key features

• Kinko menuki, high relief mollusks
• Shakudo with gold highlights
• Unsigned
• Sold as used

Ships to your Illinois address by tracked post.