Sword With Mune Ware

[mareo1912]

Hey, I just found this fine nihonto, but unfortunately it got large Mune Ware. I read some posts on the board about it and elsewhere, yet I am not sure what to think of such big Ware. Would be nice to get a thought on how it affects the quality and worth of the blade.

 

Best regards, Marco

[Jean]

Nothing to fear, it is just a classical mune ware. Now it surely interferes with the sword price but there is no rule it depends on the buyer. It is as always Offer vs Demand...

 

The negotiation depends on the age of the blade, highly acceptable on a pre Muromachi blade, not much on a shinshinto blade.....

[paulb]

I agree with Jean but before focussing on the ware check out the boshi. It may be the images and lighting but the hamon appears to run very thin towards the yokote and may run off leaving no boshi.

[Darcy]

Yeah it is a tough one, not a small kitae ware but at least not in the ji. 

 

Please take more photos of the sword, from high up and blurry it looks like Naoe Shizu. 

[mareo1912]

Thank you very much for the responses. I attached all other photographs I have at the moment. There is definately Boshi, the blade is freshly polished.

I like the blade very much, yet I don't like to heavily overpay. Description says Muromachi period, but I'm quite unsure about that.

 

Best regards, Marco

[PNSSHOGUN]

Do you know what era it came from? This is definitely the last polish it will ever take. 

 

edit: muromachi is very vague but that seems ok considering the number of polishes and suriage.

[Jean]

John,

 

It is almost impossible to say, in your pictures hada is not visible nor hamon and nioiguchi is IMHO too thin to be Naoe Shizu.

 

Here are pictures I have taken from hada:

 

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/17414-achieved-collection-gokaden

[PNSSHOGUN]

It might just be my eyes but it looks like the kissaki has been reshaped at some point.

[paulb]

The boshi is certainly very narrow which would support the idea of the kissaki being modified.

[nagamaki - Franco]

Food for thought.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that when someone, a collector, buys a sword, every imperfection, whether it's due to forging or aging, in a general sense it means that the buyer should be prepared to own that sword for the foreseeable future.

 

Kind of adds new meaning to the word 'like' in that context.

 

On that note, the NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon requirements provide, imo, a 'good' guide to follow toward evaluating/appraising a sword for purchase. With the exception being that the burden of knowing, recognizing, and understanding quality (the 2nd step in Kantei according to Sato sensei, NBTHK English Journals), falls on the eyes of the beholder.

Edited May 10, 2017 by nagamaki - Franco

[Darcy]

Thin nioiguchi is consistent with Naoe Shizu attribution. It can be so with Shizu and Kinju as well. This doesn't mean they all are like this, but it means that it's not something to use to rule out the attribution.

 

Usually when I say that a sword looks like X it means because it reminds me of one that I saw and I want to see more of it.

 

[Katsujinken]

Indeed, a thin or tight nioiguchi may not be the usual for Naoe Shizu, but it does exist in some extant works (perhaps when the effort was an utsushimono?). This setsumei says as much.