Unusual Cuff

This cuff is thought to be American made in the late 1800's. It uses a single bit key to open and works very smoothly. It is well made with no markings. Notice the taper of the bows.
So far this is the only one known.







Ron

Beautiful cuffs in a nice collection.

Are you ready to trade these for some ER's made in Japan?

I have some made by Eiji Rokurou.

Mark
O--O

This cuff is thought to be American made in the late 1800's. It uses a single bit key to open and works very smoothly. It is well made with no markings. Notice the taper of the bows.
So far this is the only one known.







Ron

Mark, I already have an ER with a made in Japan tag from some locksmith guy you might know.

Ron

This cuff is thought to be American made in the late 1800's. It uses a single bit key to open and works very smoothly. It is well made with no markings. Notice the taper of the bows.
So far this is the only one known.







Ron

Very similar to the Japanese "Luna" cuff but much more rounded on the edges.

And without the ward of the Luna I would imagine.

Steve Santini

This cuff is thought to be American made in the late 1800's. It uses a single bit key to open and works very smoothly. It is well made with no markings. Notice the taper of the bows.
So far this is the only one known.







Ron

Ron,
Please add me to the Edo Period Cuff Collectors Society.
These cuffs are very similar to yours but do not have the typical ratchet bow.
I will take more pictures when I finally get this from Japan.
I originally thought that you cuff was European but we now know that these are Japanese and from the Edo period (1860 to 1912)
I welcome the day when we can compare them side by side.

Mark
O--O

This cuff is thought to be American made in the late 1800's. It uses a single bit key to open and works very smoothly. It is well made with no markings. Notice the taper of the bows.
So far this is the only one known.







Ron

Congratulations Mark. Since we have been talking on the phone about this cuff, I agree that it is similar to mine, but there are several variation. On mine the bows are tapered and the locking slots are on the top of the bows, yours are on the bottom and are more like small milled holes and the bows are not tapered. The key holes are positioned at a different angle. These differences do not show in your pictures but were in the listing and I know you will post better pictures when you get them.

The listing said these are Japanese Tejo handcuffs from the late Edo period (1603-1868) to the early Meiji period (1868-1912), so these date to the mid 1800's.

Does anyone know what the term Tejo means? Mark and I have not been able to find a definition of the word.

Ron

This cuff is thought to be American made in the late 1800's. It uses a single bit key to open and works very smoothly. It is well made with no markings. Notice the taper of the bows.
So far this is the only one known.







Ron

Mark

Interesting cuff. Congratulations. You have a nice addition to your collection.

Joe

This cuff is thought to be American made in the late 1800's. It uses a single bit key to open and works very smoothly. It is well made with no markings. Notice the taper of the bows.
So far this is the only one known.







Ron

Hi everyone,

these are great cuffs, thanks for sharing the pictures!

"Tejo" is the Japanese word for "handcuffs" in the Romaji-transcription, which means in latin letters. The same word in kanji is: 手錠

You can check on google translate. Type "handcuffs" in the left box and chose English there, then chose Japanese in the right box.

Best wishes,

Michael

This cuff is thought to be American made in the late 1800's. It uses a single bit key to open and works very smoothly. It is well made with no markings. Notice the taper of the bows.
So far this is the only one known.







Ron

This cuff (or one just like it) is in the collection.
I always though of it a French, but I now know it is Japanese as well. They are displayed at a Japanese museum and this pair has Japanese markings
I USED to call it a French Wisner so I will now name it Japanese Wisner as they have quite a few similarities.
I missed this one and just noticed it on the newly reinstated Cuffs of the Month or recent auction page.

The Japanese have put out some nice quality cuffs. They certainly excelled at sword manufacturing as well.

Happy collecting!


mark
O--O

This cuff is thought to be American made in the late 1800's. It uses a single bit key to open and works very smoothly. It is well made with no markings. Notice the taper of the bows.
So far this is the only one known.







Ron

Thanks for the information Michael. There was a cuff like the last one Mark displayed, on eBay a few weeks ago. It sold with some other WWII Japanese items.
Ron

This cuff is thought to be American made in the late 1800's. It uses a single bit key to open and works very smoothly. It is well made with no markings. Notice the taper of the bows.
So far this is the only one known.







Ron

The cuffs from Japan arrived amazingly fast.
I am very pleased with them and they work just great and the clevis is not rusted in place or anything like that.

These came with what I am certain is the original key. The patina on the cuffs and keys are identical and it fits perfectly.
The keyway is the shape of a "9" figure and the key shows no trace of it being filed down to accommodate the less than usual shape. If it is a copy, it is old and very well made.

As these cuffs are very heavy and robust, I speculate that they were just too heavy for patrol use and were most likely used in a prison setting.
Upon receiving them, I noticed something very unique about them and this feature further led me to believe that they were only made for prison use.
The bow has 5 holes which go completely through the bows and a piston like locking pin is raised and lowered into one of the 5 holes by the key. Therefore, these cuffs seem to be the only cuff in my collection or that I know of that does not ratchet or snap onto the prisoner. (Some French Chain Berliners could be considered as an exception)
The key must be used to lock them on a wrist or to remove them.
Since they are so heavy and coupled with the fact that some prisoner cooperation is needed to put them on, I am convinced that these were a prison only model.


Japanese prison cuffs


Believed to be original key


5 position holes through bows


Piston like locking pin

These cuffs as you can see, are very well made and engineered. They really seem as though they were of European manufacture as the quality is very, very nice.
A rare and great addition to the collection.

Mark
O--O

This cuff is thought to be American made in the late 1800's. It uses a single bit key to open and works very smoothly. It is well made with no markings. Notice the taper of the bows.
So far this is the only one known.







Ron

Great cuff Mark. With the better pictures I agree the key is original and can understand why the bow ends are flat and not tapered like a tower. The similarity of form makes me believe both yours and my cuff are from the same "family" but completely different in the locking mechanism. I wonder how many more styles exist?

Ron