Brian

All the info you need is in that post. A decent Gendaito.

Well..it's in this section, so has to be something related to Tanegashima?

That type of hamon is very unlikely to be oil quenched/Showato. Suspect this is a good sword. I'm guessing it's for sale somewhere and you haven't secured it?

That tsuba-shi!!

I guess in the 8 years since then, I changed my mind Will edit accordingly

What Sam said...

Gets later and later every year. Soon it's gonna be a Xmas show. I liked the end of Oct, beginning Nov. Great weather. Hmmm

Mario, you are almost convincing me to take the trip from Jhb to Cape Town. Hmmm. The boss has been wanting me to go to Durbanville to check out our new shop..maybe this is a good time for a few days down there. Congrats, looks awesome. Really nice to see this sort of stuff in SA. Best of luck!

Baby Joe, Your considerable efforts are really appreciated by all of us. Thank you.

Wow...just wow. Doesn't get any better documented than this. Incredible history there.

An easy repair by a jeweller with low heat. Silver solder or similar. But I wouldn't bother, nothing to be gained from that.

I see a signed John Yumoto. Someone should be interested I am sure.

Some interesting ones. That cloisonné one would do well on an auction, international bidders seem to like them.

A lot of explanation. But it is STILL what I said it is, and is oil quenched. Not a Nihonto, and common in the militaria market. Nakago makes it soooo obvious. You may not like the truth here, but it remains the truth. https://www.ima-usa.com/products/original-japanese-wwii-era-tanto-dagger-in-shirasaya-resting-scabbard-traditional-handmade-blade?variant=40457944268869 And they are wrong here too...it is clearly oil quenched. https://therionarms.com/sold/com195.html

That's a lovely tsuka wrap, congrats. Glad to see you didn't delve into metal restoration. The fittings so far look great.

Yours is a WW2 soldiers utility/general use tanto, of the type maybe bought for good luck or to take to war or available around that time. Usually not traditionally made, but still liked by militaria collectors. Nakago is always a big giveaway.

There are no genuine Japanese swords ever, where "2 go into one" like that. It's a fantasy construction method. I think it may have been used on old Chinese swords, but these are definitely fantasy pieces.

Have posted him before, but I still LOVE my Night Watchman that I think I picket up for a bargain years ago after it went unsold. One of my favorites, and never seen another the same for sale.

Nothing to panic about. It has been this way for years. Every year we get a handful of people who have this problem, and have to jump through hoops to explain the species of ray. If you search the forum, you'll see the classification of the ray we use and a few similar stories. But it's nothing new. Usually there are no problems, sometimes someone gets clever and decides to ask questions. Nothing has changed. It just depends on the clearing center and who decides he needs a checking quota filled. We don't have to change anything, just be aware it's a possibility.

They want to know exactly what species of ray it is from, where it was harvested and how long ago. And once you tell them, they then want you to prove it. There are hundreds of species of ray, and some of them are endangered, so it's up to you to prove it isn't one of those. Which is impossible. They will keep shifting the goalposts until you give up. Bureaucracy at its finest

Something I can add. I'm currently in the process of looking to see if I can start sending some of the items in an extensive knife collection, to the USA. Far higher prices. I have someone who does international shipping, and she specializes in sending knives overseas. Joyce is the main person here who everyone uses, and has shipped hundreds of parcels. I have been chatting to her the past few days. The process is fairly straight forward. But she cautioned me on one thing. Apparently fairly randomly (and she says in the majority...but not all cases...if they go through the Atlanta hub) the item will be selected for a CITES inspection. This is where they will check if there are any parts at all made from any endangered wildlife parts. Not just ivory, but certain woods, skins etc etc. Even in cases where these parts aren't present, she says in those cases, the item is delayed every time by between 14 and 21 days before being released. Even if they have the correct docs, once it is pulled aside for SITES inspection, you can add 21 days or so before it's released. Sounds to me like you fell foul of one of these inspections, before they decided none of the parts were a problem. But congrats, that is great news, really happy for you.

Yeah, I think (and I'm no expert on these) that if it was some form of latch, it would be almost unheard of. I'd look for other explanations.

Assuming no fatal flaws, I would guess what you have is worth anywhere from about $900 upwards to whatever the quality ends up as.

Awesome pics! Thanks Piers.

Up to you, but I wouldn't post your number publicly. If it were me, I'd edit and say pm you for your contact details