Kronos

Going out on a limb my gut instinct was O-suriage, Oei-Bizen or just before of one of the non-mainline schools, maybe Kozori or Omiya. After having a longer look it's maybe late Koto but I'd still say Koto Bizen. But then again I'm in no place to judge so take my opinion with a grain of salt. It'll priobably turn out to be Takada

Would I be right in assuming this has mokume hada and nioi-deki, hard to tell from the pics. What is the nagasa?

New year discount: 10% off all Tsuba until January 24th.

It's only tolerated in Koto because there's a smaller body of work from that time and a far higher percentage are shortened making ubu somewhat of a rarity. If it were the same for Shinto no one would bat an eyelid, it's only that most people unlike a few for Koto can own Ubu swords that it's a bigger issue imho.

Well either it was made by or made for whomever's name is written on the Nakago, probably the former. There was atleast 1 emperor(?) I think who had a fondness for making swords. What you need is a translation of the mei and of the NBTHK papers, that should tell you everything you need to know.

What does the NBTHK paper say?

I don't know what paint stripper will do but it may be a good idea to start off with warm soapy water and a used toothbrush, before moving onto a mild solvent like Isopropyl alcohol, again with the toothbrush and see if that manages to do the trick before using stronger solvents like paint stripper. Edit: your nails are also a good alternative to the toothbrush.

I'm not sure if the filters used in Indonesia are more advanced (I suspect they will be) but sites blocked here in the UK by court orders can still be accessed using Https instead of regular http which is the easiest method of circumvention. Otherwise VPN's and the Tor network as have already been suggested are your only options.

Tsuba's 3 & 7 Sold, 9 more to go. Wakizashi reduced to £650 ($1015) with more photo's coming later today; Gunto Tassel reduced to £95 ($150).

There's an option for that in Adobe reader iirc.

Happy belated Birthday Chris I also learnt something from this thread.

Tsuba 3 on Hold.

Some of the photo's are worse than I recall, let me know if something you're interested in needs better photo's.

Last.

More.

More.

More photo's

I have to pay for some polishing so need to move some things on. 5% of all sold items will go to the board and all items come with a 3 day inspection period (buyer pays return shipping). All prices exclude P&P and paypal fees if applicable. 1) Sold 2) An assortment of Tsuba: Tsuba 1: Signed Bushu ju Masatoshi, Ginko leaf design. 6.4cm x 6.1cm, £225 ($350) Tsuba 2: I've been informed this may be a "Sado island" Tsuba of the type favoured by Martial artists for mounting. 7.5cm x6.7cm, £190 ($300) Tsuba 3: Mito Shoami Tsuba 7.1cm x 6.7cm, Sold Tsuba 4: Chidori Birds in Iron with Shakudo Fukurin 7cm x 6.6cm, There was a sticker on this and I neglected to remove some of the grime under it before taking photo's so the "square mark" on one side is grime and not damage. £255 ($400) Tsuba 5: Hotstamped tenbo Tsuba 7.5cm x 6.7cm, £125 ($200) Tsuba 6: Horse saddle design 6.4cm x 5.4cm £125 ($200) Tsuba 7: Eggplant themed tsuba signed Efu ju Kanehisa perhaps? 6.4cm x 5.6cm, Sold Tsuba 8: Bushu/Bushu Ito school Basketweave design with lovely inserts 8cm x 8cm, £250 ($390) Tsuba 9: Sukashi with birds 6.5cm x 6.5cm, £160 ($250) Tsuba 10: Shaomi tsuba 7.6cm x 7.6cm, £160 ($250) Tsuba 11: A very novel tsuba made of wood inserted into what appears to be stainless steel with a fantastic inlays of Gold, Silver and copper. Despite the two cracks in the wood a very interesting Tsuba 6.3cm x5.9cm, £320 ($500). 3) A kai gunto Sarute with nice patination. I've seen these go anywhere from $100-200 on ebay lately £65 ($100). 4) A brown naval officers Tassel, I'm sure this is genuine as the colouration is good, it has nice tight knots and the Gunto it came off looked like it hadn't been touched in 70 years which is always a good sign but there are a lot of fakes about which is what the 3 day inspection period is for. There's a single loose strand (pictured) and some minor discolouration in places but all in all in very good condition. £110 ($175) £95 ($150) 5) Hawleys Japanese Swordsmiths revised. 1981 hardbound. £225 ($350) 6) ONE HUNDRED MASTERPIECES FROM THE COLLECTION OF DR. WALTER A. COMPTON, 1992 Hardboud with Slipcase. £75 ($120)

The mon would be the cherry blossom would it not and this a name?

I like it Stephen although it seems very different to other Tsuba I have seen. Not knowing anything about fittings I can't comment further.

I can't make my mind up whether I prefer the Daida or the Sadamune, what I wouldn't give for either of those. Love the shape of the Kunihiro as well.

The publishing of thier Oshigata would be a fantastic thing, not really to increase new collectors but would be an invaluable tool for all collectors in finding rare smiths signatures as it's easy to find 5-10 examples of Tadayoshi even with google but try finding but one of a chujosaku rated smith from the nambokucho as they're not usually published and only the NTHK/NBTHK will have access to the shear quantity of swords that will have examples of all these lesser known smiths.

aha nice one Chris, I saw that the other day but didn't pay much attention as I'm more interested in pre 1700 swords and have no money currently otherwise it did look interesting. I'm glad it went to someone able to fully appreciate it

The second Kanji while not definitive is "close enough" that 和 can be made out as well. I could see it being Tegai,

The sig does start out yamato, the blade I'm not so sure about.