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Kronos

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Everything posted by Kronos

  1. Paul are you aware of what the current shinsa delays are like by any chance?
  2. Edit: On second look there's certainly inward curvature there but the lighting makes it hard to determine how much. It's not split but there is a shallow groove/hi.
  3. I'd take a good shinsa result from the november shinsa but anything Kamakura/nambokucho in the wild would be nice.
  4. Can one of the mods edit my post, there seems to be an issue with the forums where I can't post without going into "more reply options" which completely decimates paragraphs but i cannot edit.
  5. It depends on a number of factors. Firstly when was the sword made? If we take O-kanemitsu for example there's kokuho signed both Bizen (no) Kuni and Bishu and there doesn't appear to be a distinction in quality between the two. It is most likely a result of who the client was but the quality of the work being at the same level for all clientele similar to shinsakuto these days. If I ordered a Katana from a modern swordsmith I'd expect to get his best work the same as if the head of the NBTHK ordered one or anyone else of note. This continues through Oei (Morimitsu, Yasumitsu etc) and up until at least Onin. Sometime after Onin in the sengoku Jidai this changes and the exact time is different depending on which source you believe. Personally i think it's when you get into the 1500's and sukesada/kiyomitsu when they differentiate between quality based on signature going from mumei (lowest quality) through: nijimei, and the various nagamei's in order (Bishu osafune, Bizen no Kuni, Bizen (no) Kuni Ju Osafune Hikobei-No-Jo [highest quality]). Having said that there are Sue-Bizen Juyo's signed Bishu Ju Osafune Sukesada and there's many mediocre works signed Bizen (no) Kuni Ju Osafune Sukesada the latter may be partly due to tiredness however. So overall I would say it's an indication when you get into Sue-Bizen but exceptions do apply so every sword needs to be judged on it's own merits. As a general rule mumei (if originally mumei)and nijimei are always Kazu-uchi-mono and look like it; whereas When the smiths personal name is included (Hikobei, Jirozaemon etc) they're all high quality. It's just Bishu Osafune and Bizen no Kuni that seem to present problems and this could be caused by the individual smith. So Jirozaemon Sukesada using cheaper materials and signing Bishu Ju Osafune Sukesada may still produce a fantastic katana, whereas a much worse smith using the best materials and really putting in some effort and signing Bizen no Kuni Ju Osafune sukesada may still only produce something mediocre with forging flaws and rough hada.
  6. Kronos

    Ebay Nugget

    You've certainly picked the bottom of the bottom to feed on Stephen in a mumei shinto wak :D But it's in a reasonable state of polish, with shirasaya so depends on price. Better than 90% of the crap on ebay anyhoo.
  7. 1490-1590ish, there were about 25 smiths during that time signing in this manner. The quality varies considerably.
  8. There's also a brilliant tachi (although mumei) attributed to Morimitsu here: http://www.japanesesword.de/?site=sword&id=74&lang=en It's obvious why it was attributed to morimitsu and at the very least certainly one of the Oei-san-mitsu.
  9. The one at Aoi appears to have a fukure and some ware in the yakiba which I would think to explain some of the lower asking price.
  10. What happens if the mei is genuine but the cutting test is fake?
  11. I have also used Paul's services and he is imho the gold standard if you want restoration work or to send something to shinsa in Japan. The communication is second to none answering my noobish questions(I think we're up to around 100 e-mails at this point over just the one sword) and his rates are very competitive. The packaging is also outstanding to the point I felt embarrassed about what I sent him. I'll also be there on Saturday although I couldn't get out of work tomorrow night so am coming straight from work then have to be back in work Saturday night so will be quite zombified
  12. When I first started visiting this forum long before registering around 2007 the goal was simple, a nice Shinto katana in polish with mounts around the £2k mark as I'd seen on the internet. At that point in my life £2k was a lot of money (and still is by and large) but as I learnt more my desire grew well beyond my means and I put it on the back burner for a while. Several years later I was in a slightly better position and started to read about nihonto almost obsessively and decided to write a list of what I truly want while still being slightly realistic (no Masamune's). I then had a choice which imho I think are the only 2 choices for those of us with small means; either save for maybe years for one or two solid items that you'll own forever or take a risk and try to flip items while studying them and turn a profit to build up to what you really want. I chose the latter and it's been an exciting ride although it remains to be seen whether I took the correct path (this months shinsa results will give me a better idea). Doing the latter requires knowing more than everyone else in the room which is where the OCD studying comes in but then there's E-bay where the room is the entire planet and you'll almost certainly lose. I just have 1 rule really, only buy items I like and would be happy to keep then you can never be too disappointed. The third option which I never considered being a renowned cheapskate was what I hear often in that a small loss is worth the price of admission into this hobby and to study. There's enough shows and clubs for most that I feel it's not worth the price and your paying money to simply tread water rather than improve your collection. For any option the most important thing is to have focus, a plan and set goals otherwise you're stumbling around (no offense intended to anyone). Just my 2 cents.
  13. I'd avoid this, it looks like something along the lines of firescale and with the condition issues as well it'd be too much of a gamble at any price.
  14. I can't see the high end blades going up in that fashion as most are in the collection of people who take care of them, but there's going to come a day when the low end stuff that's sitting in vet's grand children's attics are no more and with all the amateur polishing and using them for cutting practice on trees they're going to become rarer bumping the entire market. But like you say, that's in 100 years (if we're still here). Darcy, I think your time at the high end is also reflected in your bands. The difference between a $1k sword, a 3k sword, a 5k sword and a 10k sword is absolutely massive to some of us to the same extent as your high end and top end, so while $50k may not be high end, $10k is not low end and there's many more bands.
  15. Kronos

    Papers

    I've seen the green one on here before iirc, it was from a dealer and called the ktk or some such. I wouldn't put any stock in either of them tbh.
  16. I'd like to second Barry's cardboard cylinders from rugs/carpets. They're extremely solid so won't suffer any damage, Also bare blades should always be attached to a wooden plank otherwise you're just asking for trouble.
  17. Kronos

    Interesting

    It's not a traditional hagire as it isn't perpendicular and is wider than typical, however for all intents and purposes it can be classed as one as it goes right through the yakiba so the structural weakness would be the same.
  18. Kronos

    Interesting

    Let me attempt to translate Christian, I believe he's saying it's either art or not worth collecting and the hagire being a fatal flaw means it is no longer worth collecting. So it won't survive the market and the quality isn't good enough that it would retain value not being a national treasure or some such that even with hagire would retain value. I reserve the right to be wrong in my translation.
  19. If you need any help myself and probably some other forum members are fairly handy with computer's Stephen. Just send me a pm.
  20. Stephen do you have any images of photo's they took you can share. I was always under the impression Nihonto photography was kind of a specialist thing where most normal photographers wouldn't have a clue how to take shots as good as Darcy or some of the big Japanese dealers.
  21. Bob Benson is located in Hawaii and was fully trained in Japan (I've used him and he's very good and well priced), there's another 2 fully trained Togishi in the US, Moses Becerra and the other escapes me. There's also several people who offer restoration services in Japan who liaise directly with the craftsmen, I would recommend Paul Martin who offers an excellent service. In terms of this Katana from what can be seen it looks very good and close to what you might expect from kanewaka, I'm not sure about the signature but it's certainly close. Either way it would look very good in polish imho.
  22. Anyone in Japan who knows enough to know who Muramasa is and that this is reminiscent of his work has submitted it to shinsa and didn't like the result. I'd wager this has papered to something with a value approaching the asking price.
  23. Just to add I do not necessarily agree with Ohmura and Jacques having seen earlier blades with much shintetsu unless there are other reasons for the appearance of something reminiscent of shintetsu.
  24. I think what he means is instead of a uniform hardness being sought out to make the skin steel (as you see from modern smiths choosing which chunks they form together from the tatara to make a block) they mixed all different steels that averaged out at the desired hardness or at least something along those lines. This was previously discussed in this thread: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/1761-when-is-a-sword-blade-tired/
  25. I'm not quite sure I buy the theory Ohmura put's forward in that if the best koto works weren't two piece construction, why then do they show shintetsu when tired? Much of what he says is quite thought provoking...
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