Bungo

The few times I sold sword, I actually lost a few hundreds each. oh well.......... milt

" the investment potential of nihonto " there are better financial vehicles than nihonto if $ return is the main and only motive. Or unless one manages to find nihonto in flea markets or sellers who don't know it's true worth, I know an old time collector who frequent the local garage sales, asked the woman if she had swords. Lo and behold she got one. Bought it at ridiculously low price after shaving 20 bucks off. It's the principle of the thing ( bargaining, i.e. ) according to him. :lol: What's the chance of that happenbing on a regular basis ? I'd say very very remote. By the way, someone on the list actually said he'll send some $ back to the seller if he turned a big profit on a bargain. Well............. . Just say personally I am not that saintly but hey, some people are nice .............some people do subscribe to the samurai code and believe in it. milt

" Thanks Milt for letting us hijack your thread. " You are welcome. I posted another message bringing it back to the original " silly " question. Somehow it doesn't come through. i am sure you ahve something to do with it. So I'll try again............ Ted, What if the " new" nakago is done very nicely, no crude chopped off/artifically ugly patina . It just shows typical light dark shinshinto color appropriate to it's " shorten " age ? Would the color of the new nakago throw people off in kantei ? p.s. I read somewhere some shinshinto made very exact early koto copies. milt

" Yasurime are a mix of school traditions, era (Kiri, kesho). they are also as it has been written by Japanese authorities, a kantei point." Jean et al, So you think the dude that did the O-suriage will fallow the " original school/maker " yasurime ? or he just did it his way regardless of school ............. milt

" As I said..just my opinion, and would be happy to be proven wrong. I doubt we need a separate thread for this...the original one was general enough that i don't think we have to worry about being too off topic. Brian " beg your pardon but I think that's for the ORIGINAL poster to decide on that issue.............. but..........carry on, let you off this time.( but don't think i didn't notice my African big knife hamon message was yanked unceremoniously, ) milt

" i have red several time that koto steel as a blue ting, and unless i am turning crazy as i get older (no comments), i think that i am noticing this aswell! " one of the side effect of viagra .................. ok, seriously, if nakago plays such a " small " part, then why everyone hyperventilate about cleaning the nakago to the extent that oiling it may be not kosher ? p.s. remember I did say " silly question ", so kindly flame with restraint and try not to insult my manhood milt

" perhaps he's just having a bad day. " most likely. Somestimes as seller, I received very strange " questions/requests ". I try to answer politely or sometimes I do it with humor. May be cool-nippon felt "insulted " with the low offer ? milt

nice tsuba. Talking about Itcho....... check out http://www.esnips.com/web/kozuka?docsPage=2#files somin0322.jpg , somin0318.jpg and others. milt

" alot not as advanced as they think they are " you said it, I didn't milt

Gang, not a sword guy so I have this silly question..... here's the scenerio. An early koto tachi , due to some unknown reason or a short dude inherited the long sword, whatever, was shortened ASSUME the owner had it " shorten " drastically in, say , shinshinto time. The original nakago is GONE totally with the " new " nakago in " new " patina ( anyway, doesn't show the appropiate age ). If submitted to shinsa, would they " dismiss " it as a shinshinto koto revival sword, or can/would they see through this O-suriage new nakago and call it an early koto ( i.e. stick their neck out and not being " safe " with the opinion ) ? I await for opinions/thoughts ......... milt

Ford, some may call this a Christian tsuba ? looks legit to me. Just because the condition is pristine doeswn't mean it's a fake. When I was young, I bought a few Song Dynasty ceramics with cracks and all as my " antique advisor " ( read .. the seller ) told me they " show age ". That is until i went to the art Institute of Chicago and saw for myself there are Song Dynasty ceramica that do not " show age " at all. milt

"The katana-kake was 3,000 yen. He told me he had bought it off a bloke with a large sword collection just last week for 3,000 yen, but was happy to let it go at the same price. He was packing up. I didn't even haggle. Add it all up and the answer is a nice green " Bug, you did ask about that bloke with a large sword collection ? milt

thanks guys, I tend to think it's a Hizen too but have seen similar ones papered to Namban. p.s. this one has no shinsa paper, just writing on the box milt

John et al, received tsuba from ole po........... box says Namban. p.s. workmanship is quite good, all the cross over vines are separated milt

yes, but I always prefer Yoshitoshi over his teacher. milt

yes, I am a print collector ( mostly Yoshitoshi and Kuniyoshi ) milt

a better subject matter........... Kuniyoshi's Tomomori who expired in battle of Dan no Ura. yes.......... from e-bay. milt

Ford, first impression on the tsuba............. could it be one of those " mirror-maker " tsuba, that type always looks " cast " to me. p.s. while the tsuba is Japanese, the two characters are definitely in Chinese clothings ( being an out dated fashionista as my kid calls me........ ) Milt

too lazy to go through flea markets but there's always e-bay............ at a very reasonable price, a Toyokuni print mounted as a scroll. Looks like Toyokuni 1 p.s. subject matter is that of a transvestite ( don't you love those Tokugawa laws on theatre ? ) milt

snipers fell asleep and I got this from ole po at a reasonable price ( with old teaser bid ). Suppose to be 8.4 x 8 cm, so a big one. Question.......... namban or Hizen ? milt

http://cgi.ebay.com/TSUBA-HEIANJO-for-s ... dZViewItem milt

my dear felix, now why would the future scholars even think of removing the bamboo panel to examine the underside for elmer's magic formula ? We do come across various non-metallic materials used on fittings like ivory, mother of pearls etc. Granted they are almost 99 % original, but there's always that ONE percent ( which can bring a nation to war, ala Mr. C ) , ya ? Worry not, I will attach to note but if the note subsequently get lost................ummm, I can imagine some collectors will agrue and scratch their heads for a while. milt

may be a gold inlay with MY name on it ? I think the bamboo is more wabi for the time being.............. milt

probably no shrinkage, I cut the " sliver " from dead dried up stock. The reverse of the tsuba shows a single water kettle where the artist signed his mei. milt

just guessing........could be a beer stein but hard to place the handle. I suppose a wood/tree/bamboo stump is an easy " cop out " milt