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Basho12

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Everything posted by Basho12

  1. It appears to be a Chinese reproduction.
  2. I assume not the buyers, since that would be interfering in a sale, and I doubt the seller wants to know. Probably best to stay out of it altogether.
  3. I know it's seldom kosher to comment on active auctions so I'll leave off the link but, hypothetically, would it be out of line to point out that "Mitsunaga" and "Nagamitsu" are not the same smith?
  4. After looking at a few more examples and seeing how "abbreviated" the gatsu radical is in several of them, I'm sure I was wrong and this is probably Katsumasa (possibly Kojima Katsumasa, Slough's, p80). My confusion came from the example oshigata I'd found above which was identified as Yoshimasa and I thought the kanji was very similiar to the mei on the sword, but I also can't find a kanji for Yoshi that looks like either one.
  5. You're probably right; you certainly have more experience at this than I do. I'm not seeing the gatsu radical at all on the left, but that might just be the angle. Now I'm wondering if the example might be a mis-identified Katsumasa:
  6. Looks like Yoshimasa, dated 1943.
  7. Whew. I spent more time than I should have last night staring at the pictures. "Something just isn't right." Thanks for the explanation.
  8. Basho12

    Unusual wakizashi

    Interesting that the saya had a carpenter's chisel (nomi) and saw inlaid.
  9. Looks right to me. He's listed as a Seki smith.
  10. I'm no expert either, but IMO the seller's description is a contradiction in terms. If a sword is made of mill steel then it can't be traditionally forged or qualify as a gendaito as the terms are normally used. There's also a very good thread at the start of this topic on tang stamps and what they signify.
  11. I usually get mine from Hyper-Cafe. They do get low stock now and then but they generally replenish. They're out of black urushi now but they have the red, and they have at least one tin of the black cashew lacquer as of a few minutes ago.
  12. I can't help with the rivet question, but when was urushi banned? I ordered and received a tube just last month.
  13. There's a smear of red that on a showato would either be a number or a recognizeable character. I'm no expert, but none of the characters look like anything I recognize. A look at the blade might be helpful, but if I had to bet, I'd bet "fake."
  14. There was a Seki smith who signed with those kanji. Considering the cut of the mei I'd be surprised if it's any older than Showa.
  15. I'm reading it as "Munenaga" (can't make out the first 2). there's a Seki smith by that name.
  16. First kanji looks like "Kane"
  17. I certainly appreciate the information, if for no other reason to remind me that spotting a fake isn't always as straightforward as I sometimes think. I, too, was sure the mei was stamped, but there was much else that looked "right" if not high quality, so the discussion has been very helpful.
  18. in programming we'd call that an "obi-wan" error (off by one). Forgot to subtract the one.
  19. Looks like the date side. Assuming it's Showa, I'm reading "1942." Can't make out the last two.
  20. For the sake of my own education, I'll bite. It's my understanding that hagire can form from stress during quenching, but also from stress during use (and someone please correct me if I'm mistaken). It makes sense that a showato would be very unlikely to develop a stress crack at quenching since the temperature is lower and the steel is more uniform. However, any hardened steel will fatigue/crack under the right circumstances, so why is it impossible for a showato to develop hagire? Just asking. (And I'm not saying this one has. In one of the last pictures it looks like it, but you don't see it any of the other photos, or at least I don't, so I suspect it's an artifact).
  21. Unless it's an artifact in the photo. if not, it looks like there may be two hagire in the boshi.
  22. I don't have an opinion on the nakago; I don't have enough experience and can't see it very well in the pictures. What struck me as interesting was the construction of the tsuka. Quality of the fittings and maki aside, the glue seam on the tsuka is symetrical, and it shouldn't be.
  23. Basho12

    Tsuka...era?

    The handachi mounting was favored by the samurai who supported the Emperor's faction against the Tokugawa prior to the Meiji Restoration, which would tend to place it fairly late Edo. A picture of the rest of the koshirae might be helpful. I don't think it's an absolute (was anything?), but I'd expect to see a mokko-gata style tsuba with a handachi mounting.
  24. I'd have read it "Takamasa" also, but an online oshigata reference gives the reading as "Takashi" as well (Don't have my Slough's handy to check it further): Perhaps with a few pictures of the blade someone here could venture an opinion as to whether it's gendaito or not. With no Showa/Seki/Gifu stamp it MIGHT be gendaito, but not necessarily.
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