Brian

Michael, that is beautiful!

Yes..just above the first pic But this being the paid dealer section, they aren't bound by the price rules anyways, they can run it anyway they like

Welcome, we hope you enjoy it here.

Yes, but we do at least require a trade value. In other words, trades to the rough value of $x.... But Mich last visited the 26th Feb, so not sure how serious he is anyways.

Congrats Tony! That is an amazing result, and well worth it. Enjoy owning this fine piece, we are all celebrating with you.

The last one you mentioned. No doubt it's in Japan, and they hope to make a quick buck. First seller doesn't even keep track of the listings he's stealing for sale. Just another middleman seller.

Many thanks Guido, excellent article as always. As the stated author, you have editing rights on the file there, as well as the ability to upload new versions anytime.

No ways is this early. Late Eo maybe. The steel is faily flat and homogenous. As such, I am not sure it fits into an exact school.

Artur, You have to read Curran's reply with a mischievous smile on your face. That is how it is intended. And he is talking about the mei itself, not the tsuba. Consider it a friendly wink that there is zero chance this is shoshin. Still a nice tsuba. Just not a Shozui.

Amazing work by Moriyama san! And such an interesting topic. That summary tells us a lot about Japanese swords at that time.

Like any real Japanese sword, it is possible to find flaws. I don't have any on mine, but you will find them for sure. The star stamp was no guarantee of perfection and quality varies. Plus, they were still weapons, and a visual flaw would not have seen it rejected for use.

Are you saying the Hosono Sozaemon Masamori's are fake/repro's? If so, that is very sad, as they are the types I would grab if I saw them on sale. This whole field is starting to look like WW2 German militaria, and requires a huge step backwards and some re-evaluation of how to collect.

It sold for around $3K? You can be VERY sure it is VERY gimei.

How about we don't decide for others what they are interested in? Hamish, I'm surprised at you for even doing this. As someone who collects what many Japanese sword collectors regard as mass produced and not art, just weapons....surely you know more than most not to decide what others consider collectible? You made your opinion known. Now it's time to drop it and leave others to enjoy what they enjoy.

@Ed Ed scaled down I think. Not sure if he stopped selling or just scaled back a lot. He's still an active member, so hopefully he sees this.