w.y.chan

Unfortunately it is ship to US only. Nice find Chris but as George said the US dollar is strong at the moment against other currencies.

I've seen blade soaked in choji oil being use to lift rust. BTW useful bits of Toshihide key features from Chris.

Plenty of lurkers here....beware

Morita is correct. The reign year always start with year 1 not 0. I'm suprise some Japanese still get this wrong.

Dread the thought of Rick then ran his hands all over the blade, spat all over it, put it away for 12 months and then it is worth $1500 again just for the mount

Was it Mike Yamasaki who appeared in an episode of "Steven Seagal: Lawman" viewing a collection of swords?

Do the tassel really go for $2500-$3500? About 20yrs ago Bill Tagg had a general sword with a tassel, the shingunto mount was in great condition almost like it was just issued and superior style with a great big shinshinto blade. I forgot what smith it was but Billy was looking for £2k. If I knew the tassel alone is worth that I should have gone for it.

Hi Ian, You mean "The White Queen"? Much the same way the BBC gave womens football all the pomp and ceremony to promote what is an amatuer sport watched by a few sheeps :lol: The BBC is well known for spins and pandering to the PC brigade. My regret is funding them via license fees for their activitities. There is about as much fiction in "The White Queen" as there is in the "Game of Thrones" but at least the latter did not pretend to disguise itself as fact to please the PC idiots and actually more watchable.

Pawn Stars is one of my favourite shows on the History Channel. They are jack of all trades but master of nothing so I'm not surprise Rick the "now it all" in fact knew little about Japanese swords and proceed to run his hands all over the blade. I recall an episode were Rick very nearly paid $4k for a British WW2 baby gas mask that you can buy for £30, if the seller said $3k he may have pay for it Obviously the show don't show the major howlers and usually show them in a good light. BTW Rick earlier in the year visited the UK as an intro to the UK version of the show which centres around a pawn dealer call Regal Pawn near Chester just south of the Wirral peninsular. The show was shown last night and the UK version premier tonight. Last night's show had Rick visiting London and ended with him touring Liverpool but imagine him in Bill Tagg's shop running his hands over his collection

How about "sporting good for Iai practice"?

I went to Bill Tagg's shop in 1991 after hearing about it from a work colleague. I remember well when I first walked in Billy stopped talking to his friends and focused on me straight away asking what I'm interested? Even back then I had a sense of humour and said "Have you got any Ninja swords". Billy got very animated and said he has none but if I'm interested there is some in Shaolin World in Chinatown Obviously I started off with something cheap and affordable to get the feel but even then I knew if I wanted something special I had to dig deep. As an IT engineer I got into the internet and started making purchase online in the 90s. I don't believe swords were cheaper 20 years ago and if you factor inflation it is actually cheaper now.

The yasurimei looks weaker and the mei is a little loose. I'm more incline to believe it is a fake. It is certainly done in the fashion of Sadakatsu. The horimono is well done. If it turns out to be a fake, is it a recent or old fake? I suppose there is a possibility of it being a postwar replica swords by smiths for GI souvenir?

Is this an old original or low grade polish, none of the photos on that site is great. Chris what do you think?

A believe a smith with seniority and made swords for important people will stand the greatest chance of making Juyo. Sadakatsu, Shigetsugu, Horii are the likely candidates, even Kurihara Akihide. Smith such as Akimoto Akitomo don't get as much mention amongst senior WW2 smiths but I bet he is just as good as the best. On a side note did Gassan Sadakatsu in WW2 tried to resist machinery but eventually relented?

I've posted this on Chris B forum a few weeks ago and it has since been sold for 2.8 million yen http://www.e-sword.jp/sale/2013/1310_1080syousai.htm If Shinzo Abe or another prominent right wing politician became NBTHK chairman in the future that sword may have an improve chance of getting Juyo.

Thanks Paul, I had to pay 5% antique tax for a sword imported from USA but I never paid any VAT even for shinsakuto from Japan. The only time there was a delay was about 14 years ago my 400 yrs old wakizashi was held at customs and I was sent a letter asking the purpose of the import even though the dealer Aoi Art had all the invoice statement explaining the item to custom. My reply to UK custom was it was an art object of historical value for educational purpose. They promptly released it.

I've not imported a Japanese sword for awhile. Has anyone had any problems importing swords into the UK from Japan lately from a dealer? Duty, tax, etc? I've not needed to pay any tax before.

"Almost" is still a risk. Remember these are small pittings being filled and may not be resistence enough against repeated use of alcohol and pressure over a number of years. I've seen fillers flaked off on a sword and left a scratch though not from using alcohol but actually occured while I was removing oil with soft tissue, felt it before I saw it.

I bet he won't, sadly. He told me why he does'nt join online discussion and he has a good point.

Some collectors prefer isopropyl alcohol. I uses that to clean edge connectors in electronic devices. It seems to dissolve oil, remove tarnish, etc, but I'm not sure what else it can dissolve and would it be deterimental over a long period of use? I have tried it before but not over a long period of time. A concern is some togi uses some kind of resin to fill small holes, alcohol may dissolve or dislodge it and can cause scratches in the process. Another is would alcohol lighten the nugui? Not used it long enough to find out.

Hi Arnold, yes it was from Bob. I bought it from him. It is finer than the ones with a stick sold in kit. It is what it is, tiny stones, kind of remind me of cutting polish used on car painwork to get rid of scratches by removing paint. Not good for nugui and hadori.

I have a Bob Benson uchiko ball, I used it once on a polished blade and never again. No disrespect to Bob B, I believe it is an inherent nature of uchiko because it is an abrasive, it did harm my blade. I'm please to have purchase it and keep it a souvenir and only use it on out of polish blades. I do have another polisher made uchiko by a Japanese togishi that is much more finer and gentler, again I don't use it on polished blade.

Again not all microfibre cloths are the same. 10yrs ago I purchase a cloth to clean my dSLR lenses and went for the most expensive one call Microdear from Adorama, it was pricey and I had to pay import tax. A few years later while exchanging emails with Paul Martin he mentioned about this superb cloth being used by sword appraisers in Japan, lo and behold it was the Microdear. I went and ordered a few from him and it was cheaper than from Adorama and no import tax. Thanks Paul.

Billy Tagg was one of the last of the old style militaria dealers. The irony was through me (as I'm an IT guy) he was exposed to the internet before most people. I tried to get him on the internet back in the mid 90s by printing articles from email discussion boards, information he cannot believe was previously possible. Then I produce my first online Japanese sword purchase and brought it to his shop in 1996 were he first got the taste of what is available on the web. Everytime someone mention about the internet it is quite comical seeing him throw a fit :lol: Even despite avoiding the internet as much as he would he still able to find stuff through good old fashion trading in fairs. I guess there is no substitute for that.

About 15 years ago in an email communication with Kenji Mishina the subject of uchiko came up. Mishina san said there is a kind of uchiko that appear on the market costing Yen 1,000 that does'nt scratch your blades which he recommend.