tokashikibob

Never thought of that, that seems possible however!

Jean, Five? How many reasons does a Stephen smiley face count for?

Gentlemen, I really do not have any thing to say about this as nobody I've contacted who I consider experts seems to have seen anything like it. Silver cage, copper kani, wooden tsuka/saya with touches of mother of pearl where a branch knot would be. Seems like much age to it. Best regards, Bob

Hmm, The Rai is nowhere near the 20 G's expected?

Is that what that one is Stephen? Read quite a bit about the school in Nagayama's book. I didn't bother trying to decode it as the grinder did not do it any favors! It was actually found in a garbage can in the 1980's in Chicago.

Takusan gomen nasai's Mr. Schiller!

In case anyone is interested. Best regards, Bob http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/191580476056?

Thanks Guido, that makes a lot of sense!

Gentlemen, I was working on this tanto mei and came up with Harubiye, Mr. Stiles helped and came up with Araoke but was not sure. Are either translations correct? Also is the kozuka dated to Chookyoo? Thank you in advance! Bob

Jean, Yep Geraint caught that too, as I get older; any additions to my Japanese vocabulary (nihonto terms) just do not seem to stick like college Japanese class vocab assignments did 30 years ago. Best Regards, Bob

Moritasan, Thank you very much, I was thinking Yoshino saku, I am glad to be set straight! Best Regards, Bob

Gents, Anyone skillful on reading the stylish kanji? This is on a wak project blade in the area. Best regards, Bob

Gentlemen, What do you think? Tomatoes... whoops Tomatos? Also, tried out the new modern camera to try and pull some midare utsuri out of this antique, but I don't know I must have rubbed most of it off when I put the chrome polish to it. Whoa, just kidding! Best Regards, Bob

Very nice find!

Jason, Great looking find all around, I can see why you were not going hard after the Chait blade if that was the back up. I hope I can catch a glimpse, do I need to bring my white Dress Blues gloves? I'll be on I-40 next Friday and Sat, I could go down Hwy 24 if your closer that way. Let me get your phone on PM and I'll give you a call next week. Best Regards, BOb

Chris, Thank you very much for the hard work! I enjoyed the read and added it to the toshokan! Best Regards, Bob

Awesome! Are you gonna let me see it next week? Best Regards, Bob

Fellas, Thanks for the input on this blade, Muromachi from a basement junkroom isn't so bad. I was reading some reference books a bit after I cleaned this one up as I was intrigued by the oddities of it from the standard fare which lead me to hopefully think Kamakura. The hacho measures 20 inches to the yokote. midare utsuri is there, kind of a ghostlike haze floating over the hamon correct? Made a few washers and cleaned the menuki which may be tomatoes on vine? Plums? Looks decent now. It deserves a finger stone cleanup someday at least. Thanks for looking, Bob

Gentlemen, Just enjoyed with great interest the Kamakura tanto thread. I too have been prospecting for worked Kamakura era tamahagane. This out of the woodwork wakazashi may be older than most of the blades I have pulled out of the paydirt the last few years. Very light and thin, very thin suguha with thin nioi line. If you have the blade in hand in the sun there is midare utsuri present. The bo-hi terminate in the kissaki but are off a few millimeters of each other. It must have been a real rapier in original form. Possible Kamakura Touchdown or Sacked for a Showto loss? Best Regards, Bob P.S. Anybody have a extra kogiri?

No, she's not into any swords, just spending money.

Great finds, I do love the kashirae of the Otanto, what excellent fittings and craftsmanship. Willing to trade a decent wife for it! Best Regards, Bob

Gents, Weather is finally breaking here, I was doing some chores outdoors and took a break to try and grab a few better pictures if you care to look. While doing some research on this nihonto starting with Chris tip to Mino school; what how about the possibility of a early generation Kaneyoshi? I say this due to the tight mokume jihada matches with a few online images and one in a referance book. Best Regards, Bob Jason, Good to go, I should be stopping by with it on the 28th.

WOW! Now that's how to sign a blade!

Gents, I was cleaning out some picture files and came across these. This was a sword auctioned off on the internet a while back that I was intrigued by but did not bid, also I never got to ask the forum about the lack of ana. I seem to have read a post maybe by Chris B a while ago about this aspect but could not find it. Any info for my brain housing group floppy drive would be much appreciated. Best Regards, Bob

Chris, I sell a ton of antique items on Ebay, which is how I gather funds to add additions to my collection. I usually have a disclaimer on the bottom stating "Overseas buyers welcome with xx positive feedbacks". That way I can cancel bids or cancel the transaction if I'm not comfortable about the low feedback rating. Often I'll cancel bids during the auction if they are a 0 feedback person as that is a 99% future non-payer. Overall during the course of a avg year with approx 250+ transactions the problems are relatively low since I've adopted those facets. If the overseas buyer has quality positive feedback then I usually ship without using the Global program to save them some $ and keep a robust customer base. I sell quite a bit of items overseas to the same clientle. Best Regards, Bob