Grey Doffin

Hi Christian, I agree with Tom. If you buy this what are you going to do with it? There is nothing here to be happy about, at any price, nothing to look at more than once. Save your money and buy something worth owning. Grey

Nothing to be gained from removing them; you'll most likely end up with random parts of book pages or a grocery list. Grey

Hi Clay, Amateur polish is never a good idea; leave the blade be. You have more questions than I have fingers to type with. You are welcome to call and I'll gladly answer all I can. Cheers, Grey 218-726-0395 central time

Agree with what Steve said and add that this may be what's left of a broken long sword. No tanto should be shinogi zukuri (this blade's configuration). Grey

Forgeries of important signatures have always been a problem, going back centuries. Grey

Before inserting the blade and habaki to serve as a clamp for the wood strip, I lay in a thin strip of plastic between the wood and habaki. If any of the glue squeezes out it won't discolor anything we care about. Grey

Hi Dale, It is Kunimitsu and it wants us to believe it is Shintogo Kunimitsu, the #1 tanto maker of all time. First glance to me looks to be a forged signature (not legitimate. See below for the real thing from Fujishiro's book) but I can be mistaken and given how important this would be if it is correct, you need to proceed with care. DO NOT CLEAN OR TRY TO REPAIR ANYTHING IN ANY MANNER, PERIOD, NO EXCEPTIONS. Any amateur repairs can do irreversible damage. Someone who knows what he is looking at needs to see the tanto in hand. Grey

Hi Mike, The registration paper is pretty much worthless; all swords in Japan have to have one but is says nothing about quality or legitimacy of the signature. It is just a license. Whether the sword warrants a polish is something a properly trained polisher can tell you after he has seen it in hand. Not a lot we can do from the pictures. Grey

Even better than Craft of the Japanese Sword is The Art of the Japanese Sword by the same authors. Here it is on my website: http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/books/b964-art-Japanese-sword-kapp-%26-yoshihara Grey

Agreed. I should have mentioned that it doesn't make a whole lot of difference, cast or not. This is a very mediocre tsuba; sorry. Jay, you should set your sights higher. Grey

A care & etiquette brochure: http://nbthk-ab.org/cleaning-maintenance.html Grey

Hi Jay, I think mid to late Edo and no reason to think it is a cast copy. Grey

The other of Mr. Nakahara's opinions that some might consider radical is that no great swords should be o-suriage. No one ever would have shortened a sword from an important smith to the point where the mei was lost and therefore any o-suriage sword with kin zogan mei or paper to someone important is questionable. Grey

Depending on who are chosen to make the koshirae and its parts and how good they are, $10K may not be unreasonable. There is, of course, a much less expensive route to the same or an even better end: buy an antique Samurai sword in fine koshorae. And when the time comes to sell, if you have chosen wisely no money will be lost. Grey

To answer the question about the mune and kissaki repair, refer to the picture below. 2 drawings of the same sword with a broken kissaki: the blue is the hamon and boshi and the red is 2 different ways to do the repair. In example 1 the kissaki only is reshaped. What originally was a chu-cissaki remains a chu-kissaki but the boshi runs off the edge of the kissaki. In example 2 the kissaki is reshaped and the mune is brought down also. The kissaki becomes an ikubi or ko-kissaki, the boshi doesn't run off the edge and the kaeri (return of the boshi down the mune) is lost. This is what Mr. Nakahara is referring to. Grey

To elaborate even further: Not knowing who the swordsmith will be, I can't speculate on how much the sword will cost but all the rest of the work, if done right, will probably be at least $10,000 and could be significantly more, depending on the artists chosen. If done less than right, well... what's the point?. When the time comes to sell, and it will, either for you or your heirs, you'll be lucky to recoup $3,000 plus whatever value the blade carries. Not saying you shouldn't do this; if money is no object have at it. But you need to understand up front what you're up against. Grey

Bill & Natalya Green are in charge. The show's website hasn't been updated yet; once it has, if i remember, I'll post a link here. Grey

Hi guys, It is official: March 5th (5:00 PM for dealer setup) or March 6 through the 8th, 2020 at the Westin Atlanta Airport hotel in Atlanta, GA. Let's all of us plan on attending and keep the winter show running and strong. Grey

I think this dates to the time after WWII during the occupation, and that it was made to sell to a westerner. It isn't Nihonto, just a piece of steel with some carving. Grey

Kokuho Token Zufu (here it is on my site): http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/books/b877-kokuho-token-zufu-dr-homma was published before the war and therefore should be an excellent source for large, high quality photos of many if not all of the missing Kokuho. Grey

I told Barry what I had heard and when I have confirmation I will post it here; should be soon. Grey

Hi Luca, Chic Sukashi: Akasaka Tsuba. To my knowledge there has never been a translation. Grey

Hi Leon, Unfortunately I have to agree with Peter. The horimono is very poorly done (no offense Chris; you are welcome to your opinion) and the patina on the nakago looks to be wiped on, not developed over time. This could be something that was made post WWII to sell to a westerner. The kesho yasurime on the nakago also point to late production. Grey

Hi Logan, I agree with Ray; send it to Bob Benson for an appraisal. Pictures posted here might work a bit but only in hand appraisal means anything. I'm in Duluth, if that helps, but Bob knows more than I do. Grey

Hi, name please, Army Shingunto with a handle that has come unwrapped, signed Kanenori. I'll leave it to others with more knowledge of war swords to supply the model number and discuss the tassel. Grey