Genuine Shinkai Or Gimei?

[peter k]

there is an alleged inoue shinkai wakizashi ending on ebai today. it looks genuine but upon closer inspection

the mei and quality of the hada isn't compelling. i think it's a very well done gimei. what do you guys say?

 

here are some pics of mei i've gathered from the net comparing the mei; the auction mei is at the far right.

 

item https://www.ebay.com/itm/SUPERB-17th-C-Japanese-SWORD-SHINTO-WAKIZASHI-FULL-EDO-SAMURAI-TSUBA-MOUNTS/282721166288?hash=item41d37ea3d0:g:8W8AAOSwY~lZ8myu&autorefresh=true

 

 

 

i've taken one of the mei out because i couldn't discern if it was shoshin,

[Ed Harbulak]

Peter,

The characters in the far right e-Bay example are spaced much closer together compared to the shoshin examples you provided, so I vote for gimei. 

[Brian]

First post image lost. Could you please re-upload Peter? Thanks.

[Ken-Hawaii]

Peter, if Eric posts it as Shinkai with papers, then there's a pretty good chance it's shoshin.

[peter k]

several posts by others and my last post is missing...anyways, it just seems that the mei is inconsistent with other

known examples. it is especially odd considering shinkai seems to chisel his mei on the mune side of the

nakago, but the auction mei is in the middle and the kanjis are relatively larger. i've also highlighted red some

inconsistencies with the mei. pic below highlights some inconsistencies with the date on the other side; the

kiku mon seems consistent with other known examples.

 

 

the hada is inconsisent as well; ko-itame with one area that seems like masame hada with chikei that sticks out

and seems out of place for a sai-jo swordsmith.

 

 

the boshi of this blade has hakikake but i've only seen sugu ko-maru or o-maru boshi by shinkai. i've seen his father

kunisada make blades with hakikake though.

 

[peter k]

it's back on sale on ebai

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/SUPERB-17th-C-Japanese-SWORD-SHINTO-WAKIZASHI-FULL-EDO-SAMURAI-TSUBA-MOUNTS/282731042135?hash=item41d4155557:g:8W8AAOSwY~lZ8myu

[Ian B3HR2UH]

Ken if you think that there is a good chance that this is genuine then the asking price is a bargain . You are right to be super sceptical Peter. Ian Brooks

[lonely panet]

who issued the papers??  HAKUSUI SWORD RESEARCH SOCIETY????? who are they??

 

i know nothing about this smith, but the blade does look to have some hada issues, maybe that is reflected in the price??

 

i have only heard positive chatter on the NMB about Eric. 

[Jacques D.]

Gimei 

 

An example of the same date (Inoue Shinkai Taikan)  the red vertical line represents shinogi ji 

 

Boshi doesn' match..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Valric]

Given that the seller is knowledgeable about nihonto, it would be papered if it wasn't gimei. We don't need detailed mei analysis and workmanship style examination in such cases. p(shoshin|seller knows about nihonto + has no paper) =~ 0. 

 

Whoever this Eric is - and irrespective of his reputation - it's dishonest to make it appear as if it was genuine. 

 

I've no doubt it will sell, as people just love paying a premium for a lottery ticket. The fact that its obscure certificate is advertised is just an old trick to elicit hope and bait in potential buyers. He knows it's gimei.

 

In fact the more I get into this hobby the more 1. I find these commercial practices extremely disheartening and 2. I'm baffled why there isn't a collective effort to name and shame such practices in order to create a commercial incentive for dealers to behave in accordance with the truth. 

[paulb]

Just to answer Hamish

Inami Hakasui was a polisher active just after the war. He originally had a good reputation but fell out of favour with the sword grandees in Japan as he was regarded as being too helpful to the American occupation forces in teaching them about swords. As a result his name and reputation suffered. He wrote an introductory book "Nihon-To the Japanese sword" (I still have a copy) which for many years was regarded as one of the best (only) references available.

I have had one sword that was papered by him and subsequently the NBTHK both papering it to Hizen Tadayoshi one to the shodai (NBTHK) Hakasui the sandai.

Whether the paper currently under discussion was by him, a fake (they were faked as were famous name sayagaki) I cant say.

In this case I have little doubt the blade is gimei and the papers wrong but certainly many of his early papers were highly regarded.

[lonely panet]

thanks for the info Paul, very interesting about the polisher.

 

very sad about the rest of the post, either he is a victim or like a few have made comments doing uncool things. sad either way.