Ed

These were full screens. Sorry I forgot to include the estimate in my original post, this was an example of items selling well below the estimate. These were exquisite works of art by the famous Maruyama Okyo which were estimated at $300-400K. They have been exhibited around the world, and published in multiple books. Maruyama Okyo (1733-1795) Cranes Each signed and dated An'ei kinoe-uma moshu (seventh month, 1774) sha Okyo, each sealed Okyo no in Pair of six-panel screens; ink, color and gold leaf on paper 61 5/8 x 137¼in. (156.5 x 349.6cm.) (2) Provenance Konoe Family Duke Konoe Fumimaro (1891-1945), Tokyo Baron Mitsui Takaharu (1900-1983), Tokyo

For those of you who didn't see or participate in the sale. Selling and prices seemed to be mixed. Woodblocks, screens, various art work sold well with many lots selling under the estimates. One lot, a beautiful pair of six panel screens portraying groups of cranes sold for $95K. Swords and fittings were mixed as well. Many swords did not sell, mostly the mid to high end items. The majority on lower end items sold at mostly reasonable prices. There were a couple of the higher end swords sold, but others did not. The Tokubetsu Juyo Bitchu Katana Nanbokucho period, attributed to the Aoe school sold but for the low end of the estimate at a mere 100K. The Juyo Bizen Tachi in Ito-Maki Tachi Mounts Kamakura period, signed Kunimune with and estimated price of $100-120K, went unsold. The high bid on it only reaching $75K. The only sword which sold at well over the estimated price was a Juyo Hizen Katana in Koshirae, signed Hizen ju Harima (no) kami Fujiwara Tadakuni (Shodai). The estimate was $50-60K and it sold at $75K Neither of the Kiyomaro's sold. The one with the hagire did receive bids up to $32K, but failed to reach the low estimate of $35K. Tsuba prices went anywhere from fair to incredibly freaking nuts!! Several so-so tsuba with estimates at $800-$2k sold for $5K (??). The highest price for a tsuba was seen on a tokubetsu papered, Edo period (19th century), signed Yoshu Matsuyama ju Ochi Michitsura with an estimate of $2.5-3K. This tsuba sold for $75K, add the seller's fees of 25% and that totals $91,000!!! Now I am no tsuba expert, so I would like to know, is this some spectacular maker that I have never heard of ?? Granted it was a nice tsuba, but jeez! I suppose each to his own, but I think it became a bidding contest between two guys who both had deep pockets. Mano a Mano. Again, if one of you tsuba pro's can enlighten me, please do. Personally, I was waiting on the last tsuba offered and expected it to go for much higher. Had I known what I would get it for, I would have bid on several others. I was happy to get it and a mitokorimono for prices which I can live with even after adding the sellers fees. :D Sooo, did any of you guys score the piece of your dreams ?? (Quiet Milt, I am referring to the auction). If so, lets hear about it.

I think Barry is reffering to the Akihide tsuba on Andy's site. Akahide was a gendai sword smith who died in 1954.

I would say you got a good deal. That books sells for approx. $500 - $600.

Try my friend, Patrick Hastings at Tagane Arts (link below). He makes Tsuba and fittings in a tradititonal manner. He does use chemicals for patination, but so does everyone else including the Japanese (horse piss and daikon is a chemical solution). He does really nice work and can do custom orders. He will get back to you, though he may be slow to answer as he and his wife just had a new baby. Tell him I sent you. http://www.taganearts.com/Fittings/FittingsideMenu.htm

Good advise by Curran and Rich. While to my semi-trained eye these shout FAKES, I can see how many buyers could be fooled. Sadly when I look at e-bay I think many are already being fooled daily. Many of the ones seen there appear to be nothing more than late period tsuba made for the tourist trade (shirimono). This does not mean to say that there is anything wrong with modern made tsuba, if fact there are some exquisite works out there, and quite pricey as well. In fact I am looking for Gendai Tsuba by "Toshiyuki Tomoaka". If by chance one of you run across works by him, please let me know.

Hi guys, Glad to know you enjoyed the pics. You should all save your money and plan to come next year. Brian, sorry I didn't realize you had asked a question. SF and Florida are pretty close in size, with SF inching ahead maybe slightly. BTW: The Florida Token Kai is in Febuary. Regards, Ed

Andreas, It is evident to me as well that you do not want to put it into Gunto mounts. Yet it sounds as though you are trying to justify the Gunto mounts to offset the cost of a koshirae. There have been many older swords placed into gunto mounts and many gendaito placed into more traditional mounts. Over the years many gendai have been remounted for Iai. Maybe you should either slow down and save your money for the koshirae. Or consider a more cost effective way. I question some of the cost of your restoration. restauration of tsuba, tsuba fitting with copper for nakago, restauaration of fushi, kashira, menuki and kurikataBuy fittings which need no restoration, I have remounted several swords and never had to restore menuki, f/k, tsuba. If the tsuba you choose doesn't fit well replace the sekigane yourself. it is easy on iron tsuba, copper is soft and works easily, it is attached with jewelers solder. Simple. Use horn for the kojiri, koiguchi and kurigata. The most difficult parts are making the saya and tsuka. Think about have the saya made and finish it yourself. If not you can have one made with cashew lacquer and horn fittings, in basic black for approx. $450 A new tsuka core with new same and new wrap (using your fittings) should run you approx., $350 - $400. The rest depends on how much you spend on fittings. Bottom line, mount it in whatever style makes you happy.

The 2007 San Francisco Token Kai, put on by the NCJSC was as expected, a show to be remembered. Most of the US dealers were in attendance along with several of the Japanese dealers including Seikeido, AOI-Art, Bunsai, and Taikeido. Hundreds of collectors and part time dealers were there as well. The floor was active throughout the show, with buying and selling from start to finish. There was most any type sword available, from budget level to exquisite Juyo quality. There were fittings, books, netsuke, cloisonné, pottery, scrolls, woodblocks. And when things slowed down, my buddy Al had a large bottle of Makers Mark under the Table. Truly a great show. The NBTHK /AB presented a display of Tanto which were incredible. Mr. Benson gave a very educational lecture on the history of Tanto as well as an individual description and history of each featured Tanto. There were almost twenty tanto available for viewing. They included such smiths as Awataguchi Kuniyoshi, Soshu Yukimitsu, Yamato Kanetsugu, Soshu Hiromasa, Yamashiro Nobuyoshi, Yasutsugu, Hisamichi, etc., etc. My two personal favorites were the Soshu Yukimitsu and the Yamashiro Nobuyoshi. The NBTHK also presented an overwhelming display of "Machibori" sword fittings. Mr. Mike Yamasaki gave a wonderful lecture on the Machibori fittings. Dr. Robson of the NTHK was kind enough to bring a great display of Mino swords and Ko-Mino fittings. The swords were Koto, Shinto examples. All were of exceptional quality as were the fittings. These exhibits alone were worth the trip to this show. Anyone who seriously studies the Japanese sword should make whatever arraignments are necessary to attend. No where else outside of Japan will you see such a group of high quality swords. Another reason to show your support and join the NBTHK/AB. Met a couple of new guys from the NMB Bill M, and Bdgrange, both very nice guys. Spoke with a few others as well. I took some photos but instead of trying to list them here and use up all of Brian's bandwidth, I posted the pics on my site and if interested you are welcome to following the link and have a look. Please excuse the low quality, out of focus photos. Trying to shoot macro close-ups hand held is not easy. http://yakiba.com/sf_tokenkai_07.htm

Oh yeah. The results of the last few items I submitted took forever to get. I was told it was due to the incredibly large numbers items being submitted. All you can do is be patient, the results are slow, the papers slower.

Not that I would condone doing it, but after reading the post regarding tannic acid it reminded me of something from my childhood. As a boy growing up in the deep woods, bayous and swamps of Louisiana, trapping was something we did to make a little extra money. The process of treating the steel traps was to first boil them to remove all oil residue then soak them in a tub of water filled with Oak leaves. The tannic acid in the Oak leaves would give the steel a dark brown/black patina, not rust. I suppose painting a solution such as this on a nakago might produce the same results over time.

I will be in attendance and have a couple of tables. Please stop by and say hello. Looking forward to seeing those of you I know and meeting those of you whom I don't.

Like Ted said there is no hard fast rule, therefore it is controversial with proponents of both sides. I personally am a proponent of oiling the nakago, both old and new. Again along the lines of what Ted said, I believe in preserving the entire sword, not only the polished areas. It is a fact that steel will oxidize or rust if unprotected, it would seem prudent to prevent this if possible. The NBTHK sword "care and maintenance" guide states, "It is a good idea to apply oil to the surface of the tang with one's fingers. however, an excessive amount of oil must also be avoided here."

Dr. Richard Stein's web site, The Japanese Sword Guide is the grand daddy of the English speaking Nihonto community. His tireless dedication to this hobby demands monumental respect. While I have no idea what type of problem he may be dealing with, I sense a degree of severity in Dr. Stein's post. I would like to ask each and every one of you to not only keep him in your thoughts, but keep him in your PRAYERS. He will be in mine. Here's to a speedy recovery. God bless you sir. Ed

Hey Chaffe, I wondered what you were up to. I lost your e-mail address a while back due to a computer crash. Shoot me a pm with your e-mail address. I was wondering if I would see you at the SFTK this year. Did you ever get the Ko-Gassan back from polish, if so I would like to see it in SF. Good luck with your web site and your study group. BTW: You let that scoundrel Cole attend ??? Ed

Brian, While this is not sword related at all, if you want to see a serious power hammer pounding on a serious billet of red hot steel, check out this 1904 video. Note it takes 8 men to turn the billet. http://one.revver.com/watch/53941 PS: If too far off topic, please feel free to delete.

Pete, AD it was :lol:

There were several smith's by the name of Masazane, most mediocre. It seems that someone was hoping this to be by the Ko-Bizen Masazane, of which there are only three known extant works. He was thought by some to be the son of Awataguchi Masatsugu. One of the three, a beautiful Tachi, was owned by a good friend and still resides in the US. Dr. Honma dated it to around 1000 BC on the Sayagaki. It was, at least at one time, considered "priceless". I was fortunate to have viewed in hand this genuine Ko-Bizen Masazane. IMHO, if the buyer of this one on e-bay thought it was by the same Masazane, he may be in for disapointment. ( I hope I am wrong) But forget my humble opinion, the best reason I can see to believe this sword was not by the famous Masazane is the the final selling price. You can believe all the big money buyers saw this auction, if any had believed it to be THE Ko-Bizen Masazane, it would have been scooped up at the last second for more than any of the active bidders could have fathomed. Remember a year or more ago, there was a big name sword(I forget who now) on e-bay. It had everyone talking, speculating. It hovered around the 5-7K (not unlike this masazane), then at the last second, BAM it sold for at least three times the high bid. One of the big dogs was lurking quietly, then when the time was right moved in for the kill.

Pete, That had occurred to me, but I disregarded it due to the fact it didn't seem to make sense. It seemed to me that a name attribution would be more fitting on a mumei sword. Shoshin roughly means authentic or truth. Authentic what ?? Merely an authentic sword ?? What do you think ??? To me the inlay looks poorly done. Maybe an attempt to fool ole gaijin into believing it had to be good with gold writing on it. Just my worthless opinion, perhaps one of the Big Dogs will come out and enlighten us. :D

Stephen, I have seen that character shown as "Sane" in Yumotos. Perhaps it can be pronouced either way. Nihonto Kanji pages show: 真 Zane. Oshigata on pg 392 of Fujishiro's, are shown as "MasaZane" on pg 173 of the english translations. Either way, for the bidder who is bidding like crazy on it, I hope it is legit. It is over $5000 now.

Maybe MasaZane ?

Personally, I would refrain from putting anything on the nakago. Whether or not he would sign it is anyones guess. But you can't be any worse off by asking. A sayagaki may be your best bet. I had him do a sayagaki in Tampa last year on a wakizashi he made in Texas in the 80's. While talking with him at my table, I pulled the wak out leaving the tsuka on, and asked if he had any idea who made the sword. After some thought he said, "I am not sure". Then I removed the tsuka and handed it back. He looked at the mei then at me with a chuckle and said "You funny". He was more than happy to put the sayagaki on it for me. One thing I found amazing is while he was writing he stopped, clearly in deep thought. When asked he stated he could not remember what year he had made this sword. His wife reached into her bag and pulled out a small journal, opened it and told him the exact day he made it. I was amazed that she kept such detailed records from over twenty years ago right at hand.

Try good ole E-Bay, they offer pages and pages of lighting equipment. http://photography.search.ebay.com/lighting_Cameras-Photo_W0QQfromZR34QQfrtsZ50QQsacatZ625

I think if you tell her you are picking up something for her, she might buy it. Of course that means you will have to buy her something, like a nice tsuba .