help with a poorly incised mei - difficult to see

[b.hennick]

HI fellow listeros:

Someone brought me a blade that had a very shallow incised mei that was difficult to read. I thought that I could photograph it and improve the visibility with Photoshop. I did not have great success. You will not find this an easy task. Here is the URL to see some photos. All help will be appreciated.

http://tinyurl.com/3cbznc

[Paul Martin]

It looks like it is trying to be:

 

Nagasone Okisato Nyudo Kotetsu

[Nobody]

I agree with Paul.

 

長曾祢興里入é“乕徹 (Nagasone Okisato Nyudo Kotetsu)

寛文六年二月å‰ç¥¥ (Kanbun 6 nen 2 gatsu kissho)

[b.hennick]

Thank you both for the effort! When I looked at my references it was obvious that this is indeed a poor gimei. The blade did not have anything of the quality of Kotetsu - now to find the other 10 gimei to make the saying "for every one Kotetsu there are eleven fakes" - much appreciated.

[Brian]

Barry,

 

I could be totally mistaken, but wasn't that saying "out of every 10 Kotetsu you come across, 11 of them are gimei?" :D :lol:

 

Brian

[b.hennick]

Brian:

I stand corrected. In any case there are a lot of fake Kotestu blades.

[Brian]

Barry,

 

Sorry if it came across as a correction, I am not even sure if that is indeed the old saying..just seem to remember it somewhere. I was just emphasising how the old humour confirmed the amount of gimei Kotetsu blades out there. Does anyone know the wording of the old saying?

 

Brian

[Stephen]

Hurry Barry

 

only 8hrs to go ...mid afternoon CST the 27th... hey it comes with a garonteee, all kidding aside if i had that kinda money for a sword i might plunk it down on this one.

gimei or not.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=015

[b.hennick]

Hi Stephen:

It certainly looks better than the one I saw. At 10k is may be a steal. Even when the signature is removed it will be a good blade. I can not judge if it is shoshin.

[Brian]

Can't help thinking that if a Japanese dealer had a Kotetsu, he wouldn't sell it on eBay unless he had verified if it was shoshin or not?

Somehow I can't see these guys trying something at $10K that could be worth a heck of a lot more if they put it through shinsa.

A private guy who doesn't know a lot, maybe. But a regular dealer...hmmm.

 

Brian