Grey Doffin

Hi Brenda, You need to make a new pin (mekugi) for the hole in the handle ASAP. Without the pin to lock the blade in the handle, the blade can slide down inside the scabbard and shatter its point in the scabbard bottom or, if unsheathed, the blade can fall to the floor and suffer even worse damage. Bamboo chopstick and a bit of whittling will do fine. Here is a link to a sword care and etiquette website: http://www.nbthk-ab.org/Etiquette.htm Please read it. Grey

Connoisseur's is the English version of Shin Nihonto Kantei Nyumon, both by Nagayama. Spelling corrected. Grey

Hi Gregory, The signature is, I believe, Yoshiyuki Saku (Yoshiyuki made). This is signed as a tachi, the earlier form of long sword, so it may be fairly old (centuries). Don't attempt any more restoration; the next step is to get it into the hands of someone who knows what he's looking at so you can begin to learn what you have. Looks interesting, Grey

Hi Darren, Sorry but the 2 oval shaped patterns I see are far too carefully done to be scratches. Anyone else have an idea what these might be? Grey

Hi Bianco, Can you tell us what the 2 elongated oval shaped lines in picture Kanemoto5 are? Grey

Hi Boris, I can have the books in Tampa but before I'll bring a book to a show I have to fly to I need a commitment to a purchase. I'll need the luggage space on the return trip for books I buy at the show. Both of the books are on my website; you can check them out there. Thanks, Grey

Actually 2 books in Japanese that I know of: Nihonto no Soe Kogatana by Suenaga Masao and Nihonto Kogatana Zuikan by Shibata. Grey

There is a near complete translation into English for Gendaito Meisaku Zuikan. Grey

The tsuba with the horned demon peering around a pole, the rectangular plaque to the left of the ana wasn't there when the tsuba was made. Sure looks like it was added some time later, for God knows what reason. Grey

Hi Forrest, Even though there likely isn't much value, no one other than a properly trained polisher should attempt restoration. If an amateur reshapes the kissaki I can guarantee there will be no value left. Don't try to fix Japanese swords; it is a quick way to lose a lot of money. Grey

The 1st thing I look at on a tsuba I suspect is less than wonderful is the nakago hitsu-ana. On all these tsuba the anas look at best never been mounted and at worst cast reproduction. So I ask myself, what are the odds that someone set out to collect tsuba and ended up with 5 with identical nakago hitsu ana? If 1 or 2 of the 5 were like this I could buy them as late and never mounted but real, but 5 of 5? The iron looks grainy also. Maybe it's the pictures but I still think they're wrong. And if I'm wrong (very possible) the best these are is quite low quality. Grey

Hi Forrest, The badly broken kissaki will render this just about worthless. Grey

I'm with you Gabriel. I know nothing about the coins and the tsuba look to be fakes. Grey

2.7 cm long. It has 2 pins on the back so I suppose it could be a kiseru ornament but seems too nice for that. Grey

Hi Keith, What is even more expensive, sometimes much more expensive, is not having read the reference material before buying swords. Grey

Hi guys, I have an idea for software to make searching ebay easier; do any of you know if the software exists? Would any of you like to write the software and give me a copy in exchange for the idea? What I have in mind. To start I type in words I want to search for: Japanese, Samurai, sword, etc. Click on go and I'm taken to the results: about 3 or 4,000 sales. If I find multiple listings of fakes from one seller I right click on the seller's name and an options box opens. I click on 'Never show this seller' in the box and click on save. Same goes for words I want to exclude from my results. Right click on Ninja and I'm given the option to never see Ninja swords again (adding, rather than excluding words is just as easy). And the Holy Grail of search options: I can exclude countries. Wouldn't it be great to see everywhere except for China? Every time I make one of these choices I'm refining my search. Eventually I've excluded dozens of sellers and a hundred or so words. Since all choices are saved I don't have to start at the beginning next time I log on. I know I can do some of this with ebay's search options but they are clumsy and limited (I can exclude only 10 sellers and I can't exclude a country). Wouldn't it be great? Not that I want to encourage people to search ebay for Nihonto; it's a dangerous way to buy and I don't need the competition :-) Any of you know of anything? Grey

Hi Barry, On the outside chance that this is shellac instead of varnish, see if a drop of alcohol somewhere on the blade dissolves it. Neither the alcohol nor acetone will damage the blade but acetone is more likely to do damage to you. If it is varnish, paint remover should be OK on the blade also. Grey

Hi Steve, Every service the postal system has is trackable; you'll find the tracking # on the customs form for priority or on the Express shipping label for Express. You will find there is a $650 limit on insurance to France but you can ship without insurance and buy private insurance up to $1,500 from U-pic.com You don't need an export license. Priority is nearly as fast as Express and costs less (not like they have a slow plane and a fast plane). I don't think you have to bother with the commercial sender section. I would say antique sword on the customs label (not like they won't figure it out themselves if they wanted to). Pack well and make it difficult to open; it discourages the customs people from bothering to open. Grey

Hi guys, This auction came up on ebay today: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-Samura ... 3f2d3c11c2 Got me wondering: Has anyone ever come up with the true story behind these civillian mounted Gunto? I've seen that style tsuba a dozen times so I know they were cast and not in small quantities. There has to have been a group of people for whom these and similar swords were made; do any of you know who and/or why? A quick check through Fuller & Gregory and Dawson didn't answer the question. Thanks, Grey

I would think that it makes little difference with top level smiths. Mid level or lower it will make an appreciable difference because it is a label that people can collect. This is why Mantetsu Gunto are worth more than other Gunto. Not necessarily a better blade but it has a label. Grey

My guess is Hama-mono: something put together to sell to departing western tourists, late 19th or early 20th century, at the port of Yokohama (thus the name). It may be a broken blade or something made at the same time to go with the mounts. The sori isn't right for what it wants you to believe it is; too strong. But it might appeal to what westerners of the time thought a Japanese sword was supposed to look like. Retempered blade is another possible explanation for the strong sori. But this is just a guess; I'm often wrong. Grey

Hi Glen, There are zero signed Sadamune that aren't forgeries (fake signatures). This could be the 1st and only but don't get your hopes up. Odds are very strong that this isn't what the signature would have you believe. There are 1,000s of gimei (fake signature) Sadamune. But this doesn't mean yours isn't a good sword; it could be just fine except for the signature. Unless you have paperwork telling you which family it was that gave the sword you won't be able to return it to the gifter; no way to learn who it was. Grey

Hi Jason, Here's a thought for study and learning. Get yourself one of the Japanese books with lots of oshigata. Fujishiro's Nihon Toko Jiten would be an excellent candidate because it is a book you need to have in any case. Sit yourself down and create an English index for the 2 volumes. It doesn't matter that an English index exists already, not to mention the complete translation by Harry Watson. If you take the time to translate the smiths' names, provinces, time of production, and relative quality ranking you will learn gobs of stuff that eventually you'll need to know. This will take months of spare time but when you're done you'll be able to read many sword signatures and you'll have some understanding of relationships between smiths and schools. Grey

If I understand correctly, the original habaki was left with the sword after polish because the original habaki is solid gold. Older solid gold habaki are always loose because gold is so much softer than steel. It wears away as it is being put on and taken off the nakago and becomes loose with time. If the habaki is original to the sword and solid gold, do not replace it. Solid gold habaki are so scarce; so few swords have them. Count yourself lucky and leave well enough alone. As for your idea to have mounts made for the sword, see FAQs above for the reasons why this probably doesn't make sense. Grey

Hi Frederik, You're correct with the date except for Showa 12 is 1937, not 1938 (1926 was Showa 1, not Showa 0). The mei is Noshu Seki no Ju Kanehiro Saku. If the city is Seki the province is always Noshu. If it's Noshu and Seki the 1st Kanji of the smith's name is Kane. Grey