LISBON FALLS, MAINE — A Japanese tanto was the surprise top lot in Daniel Buck Auctions’ April 28 Firearms, Military and Sporting sale as it sold for $61,600 to a Canadian collector.

The tanto featured a wood sheath and handle and a 9 ½-inch blade, with markings to all parts.

“I had believed by looking at the wood scabbard and the handle that it was early Twentieth Century and that the blade could have possibly been earlier,” Buck said. “What I have come to find out is that the blade is very old, quite possibly 800 years old.”

That date would put the piece in the late Kamakura or early Muromachi Period.

With a $40-60 pre-sale estimate, the lot garnered considerable interest between absentee and online bids as well as three phone lines.

A full review will appear in an upcoming issue.