chrstphr

Now he says a Japanese man appraised it, but the owner of the sword ( which is not the ebay seller supposedly ) will now seek a COA. lol. The seller then stated to me that he was surprised i would say the sword was fake from the tiny photos he listed and that the sword had been " extensively refurbished" and perhaps that was why i thought it was fake. He must be a scam. No honest seller would be so stupid. Chris

He thinks it's real and worth the 10K. He said he had a very knowledgable man in the field appraise it and that "expert " said it was real. lol. oh well. I told him that fortunately most will be able to tell right away that its a modern chinese fake, while the ones who cant tell, will not have 10K to throw on a sword. So it will most likely remain unsold. thankfully. I would hate to see someone pay more than $5.00 for that. Maybe Sam might go show him some real Nihonto. Chris

you might like this one for a female Samaraii Chris

Hi my sword already has Hozon papers in the late 1980s. I have had a few people see it and say if it werent for one small ware and being mumei, that it was good enough to pass tokubetsu hozen. But i thought it would be a waste as it was mumei, and koto with no smith attribution, only a school attribution. Chris

I have a Mino senjuin blade. I think mine has alot more activity and is much nicer than that one, though mine is mumei and o-suriage. I would guess, that this one is a good bit later, late muromachi. I would date that one around 1550 or so as its ubu and a katana. Mine is a cut down tachi. http://s2.beta.photobucket.com/user/chr ... rary/sword I will say the Koshirae is nicer than what i have on my sword. while i love Mino senjuin blades, and have seen a few others on the internet that i would have bought given the chance, the photos of this one dont excite me. there are few extant examples of Mino Senjiun surviving. This one is at a fair price considering you get koshirae and shirasara. But the blade seems dull and i dont like the shape. The shape of the kissaki looks like it was repaired. Chris

Franco, yes, this was what i thought. So this blade is not Ubu, is not in good preservation from what i can see in the photos. It may show good workmanship, but is Kanenaga a famous smith? the Aoi posting says he is the student of Nagayoshi (who appears to be famous). perhaps i should submit my koto mumei blade for Tokubetsu hozen. I was under the impression it would not be accepted unless it could be attributed to a famous smith (which it can not). John, you give me hope. Chris

it appears to me the Forbes "article" is really just a paid advertisement. And the owners are trying to play it off as a real scientific article that has credibility since it is associated with the magazines name. I doubt Forbes cared what the ad said. It could have promoted a watch brand for all they cared. And Forbes is by no means knowledgeable on Japanese swords. To pretend they are is also ridiculous. It certainly isnt an article in National Geographic, or a Japanese publication. The whole thing is shaping up to be a scam. Why pick Forbes magazine to run that ad? Chris

I thought mumei koto O suriage blades couldnt get Tokubetsu Hozen papers. Chris

For Astrepshin, There is not a sword on this planet that is worth 80 Million US dollars. Past, present, future, bejeweled, Japanese, belonged to Jesus, Buddha, Masamune etc. To state such shows how ridiculous your post is. and to Chris Bowen, You sir, are a genius. The turtle pics are enlightening, entertaining and make your point. Chris

Hi, my observations which are probably moronic, photo 1,2 and 3 .... blade looks oil quenched photo 4, the activity seems superficial, like it wasnt forged Photo 5 hamon looks like a modern repo type blade photo 6......looks acid etched Photo 7 .... Boshi hamon looks too round, like its machine made assembly line photo 8.... the Hamon doesnt look right, in the photo its just puffy white steel, cant see any activity from forging photo 9 and 10.... look oil quenched photo 11 ... looks like nihonto, but i had a feeling that one was a trick one that looked right but was made with western steel. if i got to pick one to have, it would be photo 11. Chris

my uneducated vote is they all are. Chris

If this sword was so awesome and worth $27,000. Then why didnt the guy have it submitted to shinsa while still in Japan where he bought it? Why didnt the Japanese owner have it submitted for shinsa before selling it to this seller? These are red flags to me. If its real and so awesome, wouldnt one of those guys submit it and then be able to get more money for selling it with papers and a judgement??? This may be a nice sword, but if gimei, then its just an average gimei sword and i doubt it will get tokubetsu hozon or any of the like. It would already have the papers if it were that high a quality. I usually dont believe anything a seller posts on ebay about unpapered swords. In my humble opinion. Chris

I think you have to look at the nakago inself in the photo and note the blemishes and dings in the blade. Several are missing from the blade itself. I had to line both photos up side by side to see what didnt match. On the tachi mei side NBTHK photo, on the edge by the 3rd character are two dings in the photo. However on the blade the edge is perfect. On the Katana mei side, beside the 3rd and 4th characters is a straight line that breaks the polishers slanted lines. This is not in the NBTHK photo. in the NBTHK photo on the katana mei side, above the first character on the edge is a rough blemish, this does not match the photo of the blade in hand. The polishers lines on the tachi mei side do not match. On the blade they are evenly spaced, but in the NBTHK photo, some are close and others further apart. I think they were saying there was a trick that the mei was replicated on the blade, but that other things did not match so the blade was not the blade certified. Perhaps there were other factors like length and sori that didnt match. The mei looks like a match. of course all i have posted here is conjecture. I am a nihonto idiot. Chris

i would guess Koto as well. late 1500s. Chris

HI, i dont think this is koto. You dont say how long it is but the overall blade doesnt appear to be shortened. Looks ubu to me. my guess would be Shinto to later. Price is what someone is willing to pay for it. I cant say if $1500 is fair or not. Not enough info on it for me. Chris

i agree it looks shinto. Chris

sometimes yakiotoshi can be found on rehardened blades. With this sori, i wonder if the blade was ever retempered. Chris

while i agree with all your points, and i also concede i am an armchair nihonto idiot. But i would say that the two examples you gave have the deepest curve nearer the nakago, which is consistant with early tachi, while the OP's sword photo appears to have the deepest curve more in the center of the blade and is at a length that it may be suriage. If it was shortened, the that would put the curve even more up the blade towards the kissaki. Which is why i gave a later date. But i am only guessing. Chris

Based on the shape in the photo and the length, i would say 1700s-1800s. I dont think the sori is right for kamakura or Koto. Take a look at this Kamakura blade and see the sori. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=12731 I do not think the blade has been shortened, if it has the sori is way too deep, and the length is still long at 93.9 cm. I think Kamakura or koto , it would be a lot shorter. The photos get dark near the Kissaki, so its hard to truly see the whole shape to see the taper the blade has as it gets to the kissaki. Still a nice blade. my humble opinion. Chris

Shape first, activity second, mei (if any) third. Too many people get caught up in the hamon or activity first and miss the clues in the entire shape for time period and age. What does the shape of the entire blade tell you. I say this because you only spoke of all the activity and said nothing of the shape, sori, length, etc. All of that is first and foremost when trying to ascertain the age or time period of a sword. The activity you describe can encompass hundreds of years. Utsuri and nioi are not delegated to one era. And many techniques were copied again and again in later time periods. What is the length? sori? has it been shortened? What is the shape of the Kissaki, Once you have the shape, it will narrow a time period. Then you look to the type of activity. For all you have said, this could be an edo blade, or muromachi. A photo of the whole blade will be a big start. my humble two cents Chris

Contact Ricecraker.com. They are in Los Angeles in long beach (San Pedro). There is also a Japanese sword club there, I think they meet the first Friday of each month Los Angeles Sword Society Aikido Center of Los Angeles 1211 N. Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90012 Located a few blocks from the Chinatown Gold Line station Tel. 323-225-1424 Nothing in Las Vegas, aside from the Pawn Stars tv pawn shop with some gunto and ok blades. Hs pride is a 16th century blade in poor condition. But if you have nothing else to do, he does have 5 or 6 blades in the store. Chris

I would imagine that one is from a sword that was ruined on purpose. You can see the deformity in the metal. Chris

change in plans, I actually have this listed now on consignment on Yakiba.com. Chris

By the shape and condition of the nakago, i was guessing WWII era blade. Mass produced. Chris