*UPDATE**Is this signature gendai?**UPDATE*

[jason_mazzy]

it is still available. He pulled it because he got the signature translated.

[Stephen]

Jason or James

 

if your incontact with seller be sure to update us. is it going to stay in one lot or sold the same way.

[John A Stuart]

I like to see everyone be treated fairly. If this dealer which I'm sure had it listed for 990 and sure to be making a profit has been informed he has underpriced these and now realises a huge profit will he give the old lady her benefit? Someone has been kind enough to alert him to his error and I would hate to see him swallow all the get and the poor woman struggling with everyday bills. Somtimes an unfairness can be corrected and I hope it will. John

[jason_mazzy]

John I am working on that angle also. The owner of the store sent me his phone # last night. I am trying to get the person here, as I don't feel like posting the 30+ pictures he sent.

[Brian]

The owner is welcome to register and post here. We may be able to assist and also find it a new home at a fair price.

Yes, no-one is getting a bargain here anymore. Nice package though, and deserves some thought before selling.

The big name isn't as important anymore, although whether it is listed as a likely gimei or not remains to be seen.

 

Brian

[jason_mazzy]

I just had him register. He pmed me.

 

his user name is Triumph GT6 Racer

[Triumph GT6 Racer]

Hello to the forum. I'm the gentleman who listed this item on eBay. Jason was kind enough to contact me on eBay. I normally do not remove listings on eBay, but after trying to list and describe to the best of my ability, I quickly realized this find may truely be a remarkable find. I am a second generation pawnbroker and I've been doing this for 40 years. I've never seen anything like these.

With a question about the person I bought them from, I will say, I have a close friend in the custom knife world, Larry Chew, who is well known in his field with folders and custom high end pocket knives look at the items before I bought them. If you've seen the Discovery Channel "Pawn Stars" series, it was one of the few times in my career I "called in an expert". I felt this set was genuine 'something' but did not have the knowledge, obviously, to know what they were. So everyone on the forum knows, I always start my auctions low... sometimes, I even start at 99 cents... so... I did pay my customer a fair price, and I do expect to make a profit, but I've never ever in my life took advantage of anyone in any situation. I do have that shiny thing at home I look into every day (Mirror)...

So.. I'm offering my self up to the forum. I hope to truely learn about the set, and hopefully, find a happy buyer. Something that will be fair for me and fair to the buyer.

Respectfully... Bobby Whitehead

[Brian]

Bobby,

Welcome, and good to see you come here for some advice and to find out more.

As you know, this is a nice set. First thing is..if advised that the signature is gimei, don't assume that we are saying the swords are fake or are trying to get the price down. Gimei (false signatures) were common in the history of Japanese swords. In fact, there are likely more false signatures than genuine ones. It was common to boost the rating of a sword by making it seem as though a "big name" made it, and this was done from ancient times. So this doesn't mean a sword is bad or worthless. Some very nice swords are gimei, but it does of course affect value.

The value in your swords lie in the good mounts, impressive laquerwork and hopefully decent blade quality. These are a matched set, and should never be separated even if it would earn more money. If you have othe pics of the blades specifically to upload or host somewhere, then please do, and we will advise what we see. I also ask that you don't quote any info you get here for commercial purposes unless you ask the poster first. Some are sensitive about that, others don't mind.

I suggest you take some time gathering info, and then decide how you are going to sell. You can advertise it here for free if you like, or eBay again. You will not easily find the amount of knowledge on this forum anywhere else, especially for free. Remember that the smallest damage can affect values on Nihonto greatly, and that restoration is hugely expensive. This all affects value. But good items are always in demand, so the trick is to find a happy medium

 

Good luck, and let's see more of those swords.

 

Regards,

Brian

[Stephen]

Welcome Bobby

 

I sent you a letter via ebay to see if your going to re list, I hope after all your questions you'll feel good about putting them back on Ebay, me my self would sell them one each and not in a lot, I'm sure others may have a different opinion.

First off you need to wipe off any hand or finger prints, not to take anything away from your knife guy, his take is slight off true, as you have read the katana is with a famous name, in my time in Nihonto ive only see one or two surface, sure some sites have hand shoshin Kotetsu but the story goes for every hundred Kotetsu there is 110 gimei or something like that. It does not take away from you blade in its self I find it very collectible. the stand is worth more than your starting price alone by it self. The Tanto is exquisite IMHO you should do well and after its said and done you might look in that mirror and say to your self I think ill give a few more hundies....I shouldn't say that as I don't know what you paid and don't want to know. ask away many here to help. Glad Jason brought you over to the light.

[Brian]

Stephen,

From what I can see, that is a daisho there. Well..as much as a katana and a tanto can be. Not all matching, but you can see the intention was a set. Shouldn't be split up imho. Where you going to find matching laquerwork like that again?

 

Brian

[SwordGuyJoe]

Brian beat me to it. These were mounted as Daisho and shouldn't be split up IMHO. It may make the set more difficult to sell, but should pay off in the long run. Katanakake could be sold on it's own (to me...).

[John A Stuart]

Well Stephen, I'm one I must say. I would hate to see this broken up or on e-Bay. The daisho koshirae is what I like the most. The katanakake has some nice metalcraft. I would love to see the blades in hand. No matter the mei this daisho was made with quality. There are some condition issues and easily addressed. I'm glad to hear the woman is getting fair dish Bobby. John

[Stephen]

Brian Joe and John

 

OK i did not give a good look see, yes the mounts are in suite, mos deff dont split them up dont know about the stand being made for the set ....just fantastic work on the fittings, who was the maker of FK?

[jason_mazzy]

He is making a photobucket account, and his manager of the store will be getting the pictures up. Should have 40 or so pictures I am hoping.

[John A Stuart]

An Hamano artist I think. Yoshimasa. I looked at them yesterday and may have forgotten, can you believe it? John

[Stephen]

Dont worry John it only gets.......huh oh dont worry John it only gets worse, looking forward to the PB. Now Nihonto Gods i do have a tk for tonights MegaMillions hint hint

 

 

edit

PS thanks John

[John A Stuart]

Ha ha, I found my notes, and it was Yasumasa not Yoshimasa. Just goes to show. It is already worse. :lol: John

[Triumph GT6 Racer]

OK ... I've got a Photo Bucket for the set I had on eBay and pulled.

Please enjoy!

http://s1003.photobucket.com/albums/af1 ... 20VIEWING/

 

If you like (Forum) I can start a new string with the PhotoBucket images... there are 111 pictures, I've done as best I can with a small camera...

 

I'm excited, these may be one of those finds that may be worth keeping for when I'm dead and gone... my oldest son has three years KUNG FO training... his green eyes got MUCH greener last night when I showed him some photos...

 

Bobby Whitehead

[jason_mazzy]

Just wanted you to get it looked at first. better to go to a true enthusiast here who will respect the blade.

[Stephen]

funds for sons college

[drbvac]

Well folks just went through all the photos and all I could think about was the 999.00 on the original listing. I even think the stand was made as part of the daisho or at least to match the saya. Very nice indeed.

[Basho12]

Beautiful.

[moss]

Well Jason,

 

You should have sat back quietly on that one.

Put in the finishing bid and walked away with a very nice deal then put it up for show and tell.

Too much enthusiasm ......way too much of a hurry.

Did you offer advice to the seller?

No offense to the seller who is here,I just would have played the game differently.

Congrats on your wak Jason.

 

Cheers Moss

[jason_mazzy]

I knew it deserved more than I could do for it. I saw the deal but found it more honorable to let everyone have a chance. Integrity is the only thing I have left.

[Stephen]

Integrity is the only thing I have left.

 

Good for you.

[moss]

Come off it Jason,

 

You have more than just integrity left,keep that up and I'll cry.....With laughter.

You have enthusiasm ,a healthy curiousity and youth on your side.Oh and sometimes you listen

This honourable thing business....hmmm ,does that mean I lack it ?

To place an offer does not lack honour IMHO

Strikes me like this would have been a candidate for a sneeky 'Buy it Now' offer,considering it was listed wrong

 

Anyway better luck next time

 

Moss

[jason_mazzy]

nah I did not insinuate you did not have honor. I spoke to the man, found out how he got it and what he paid. I told him I believe it was worth alot more and if he brought it here, he wopuld get his fair shake. And if he did get a fair shake to think about returning the same fair shake to the woman who brought it in. I am in my 30's, retired, disabled, divorced and a single parent. As far as the usual stuff goes it is all gone. Integrity is what i have left, and that integrity urged me not to take advantage of a situation that would have been to my benefit, but not to the poor pig farmer who sold it just to feed her family.

[moss]

Jason ,

Got it .

Wonder if the poor old farmer will really get what they should have?

I know you didn't insinuate I had no honour,just posed the question wether it would have been dishonourable to make an offer.

Nice of you to show compassion but stop beating yourself up.

You could of always bought it ,got the name of the farmer and fixed them up dirrectly.

Now that would have been honourable

Anyway the past can't be reversed so upward and onward.

 

Cheers Moss

[Triumph GT6 Racer]

Certainly interesting and exciting for the honor to be invited to the forum. With regards to Jason, I only feel it was honor and respect for the culture and the possible historical ratifications this set might have, that led me to end the auction. I can assure all on the forum that I have honor in my heart as well too. I will not go to bed at night knowing I took advantage of someone, anyone, for financial gain. I paid $1000.00 for the set with my simpliest basic 40 year knowledge as a pawnbroker. I felt it was an original set, but, I had no idea what the value was. Maybe the set is worth $2500-$3500 , worse case, maybe it's worth more. If I learn enough about the set on the forum and this set turns to historical value, I will do nothing but honor the set and the family I bought it from. The family I purchased the set from are not poor pig farmers as mentioned in a previos posts. I wish to clarify, we are in a rural part of N. Texas, and the family I bought the set from have their children involved in SHOW PIGS. They are raising pigs for show in the stock shows in the southern region of the USA. They certainly aren't 'poor pig farmers' although I'm sure they are not hanging out with Donald Trump. The best knowledge I came up with on my own and limited resources led me to make what I thought was a fair offer, for what I knew. These could have well been nice fakes and I gambled my money and lost... it's the nature of the business...

If these turn out to be significant, I'm leaning towards verification, and keeping the set for my heirs... my oldest son in KUNGFOO would be honored to have these as something to pass down to his children.... we'll see.

Thank you again to Jason for honor, and integrity for alerting me and HELPING me save these to go to a better higher cause... and it's not about the money..

Bobby Whitehead

[Brian]

Folks,

I am not going to allow one more word on the circumstances, the original seller or the buyer here. Frankly that has nothing to do with us, although it is nice to know that there is integrity out there. If anyone has regrets that the set was pointed out to the seller as something decent, then tough. We all know that the big Nihonto guys would have found it anyways, and it was never going to go cheap. Most of us search "all categories" anyways. So 'nuff of that.

 

Bobby...I am unsure what more info we can give. They are a nice set with good fittings. We have identified the sword signatures and the fittings maker.

They were laquered en-suite, very well done in a type of daisho-style. The big name on the sword is likely gimei, and shouldn't be the basis for any values per se. Needs professional confirmation, but is probably not the big name.

I haven't looked at all the pics yet, buto gut feel is that these would sell for maybe $5K-6K but that is a pure guess. There are dealers that would give you a better idea and maybe sell them on consignment, or you could use eBay again. Your items, your choice.

Personally, although your son might have an interest, unless he is prepared to look after them properly for the next 50 years, do the proper maintenance, research them, and make sure they are preserved, then they probably belong with a serious collector. This set isn't for the casual person with an interest, they need restoration and possibly a shinsa.

Then again, it is your choice as I said, so all we can do is advise. Please do let us know how we can assist at all. Just hope the forum can be of assistance, that's what we are here for.

 

Brian