Marius

Many thanks Darcy :-) All pictures of this tanto have been made by the previous owner. I will produce some hopefully better photographs and I will post them here. I won't match the quality of your pics, unfortunatelly. Here are the measurements of this tanto as described by the previous owner: Total length is 29.8cm or 11 7/8 inches and the cutting edge is 20.7cm or 8 1/4 inches. I will come back with more measurements soon. Best regards

Oh, here si the source for my assumption (that the tsuba has suffered from being in a fire): http://www.nihontokanjipages.com/fire_scale.html Best regards

Am I wrong or do pics 10 and 11 indicate that the tsuba has been in a fire? Thankfully Possservice posts very good pictures - what you see is what you get. regards

My rules: 1. There are no opportunities on eBay, just fair prices if you are lucky 2. Even if I find something that looks like an opportunity, it is not real. Things like this don't happen to me. 3. If the opportunity seems 100% genuine, look at point 1 - it is still valid. The more one wants to convince me, he/she has no clue what he/she is selling ("I am not n expert on Japanese swords, I have got it from a friend, whose father was stationed in Japan in the 50-ies..") the more I know it is some sort of scam (marketing?) Best regards

Curran, what is the current price? It;s 18:16 CET and the price is $1,325... Best regards

Hello, thanks a lot for your feedback :-) You have confirmed a beginner's gut-feel and I am very encouraged by your positive assessment of this blade. What would I do without the NMB? SO good you are here, always willing to help and teach :-) Thanks a lot and best regards :-)

no, unfortunatelly. Any serious kizu? Best regards

Dear All, I have just won this wakizashi (thanks, Jean for pointing out it that it is slightly machi okuri). The seller is unknown, no feedback on sword deals, but, being a stupid beginner who relies on his gut-feel, I have decided to take the risk. I know, I should have asked before I decided to bid... Now I would like to ask your opinion about the blade and the papers. Was this a good deal or have I , hm... overreacted? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=011 Best regards

Brian, sorry, I should have guessed and checked. As far as the "fake vs. real" manual is concerned, I could give it a try, but what about the pictures? I could add some pics of my real nihonto (no outstanding pieces, though), but otherwise I would violate copyrights... The NMB members could certainly help here with pics of excellent swords and koshirae, but what abouth the fakes? Best regards

I guess, Drirk's idea is very good. Maybe, with permission, the NMB could publish this information: http://www.nihontokanjipages.com/fake_j ... words.html it should be updated, because the fakes are getting better. Regards

Jacques, I presume it may be gimei, but if it is not, then the "crispiness" of the tagane just like tha overall state of the nakago is said to depend very much on the conditions in which the sword has been stored. Or is there any "universal look" of a, say, Kamkura nakago? Best regards

Thanks to all of you :-) Again, an opportunity to learn. To wrap up: not a bundle-sword, not quite like Bizen, but cannot be ruled out. Overall, might be worth the risk. Good (Japanese?) polish but no kanteisho should make one a bit cautious. Good beginner's sword? Best regards

Dear All, I am sure that the seller (whom I know and respect and from whom I have bought a nice wakizashi in the past) will not mind discussing this auction. He is selleing rarely, but if, then it is rather high quality stuff (my personal opinion). What do hold of this uchigatana? It seems one of the bundle-swords to me and I take don't quite like the hada, which seems coarse. I may be getting paranoid, but was this hada "enhanced" somehow? The mei will not matter at all I suppose - if this is a bundle sword as I presume the mei would be the equivalemt to a "factory stamp". The boshi seems very nice though. Anyway, would you recommend this blade for a beginner? I would fancy it, to be honest.... here is the link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=018 best regards

I have bought a yari from showa22 - it was exactly what I expected and I am very happy with it. Hope that helps.

Hm.. I see zero bids and a price of $1.0. Strange or was is a joke by some idiots? Regards

Thanks, Ted :-) It is mitsu mune. It is indeed itame hada with masame running through it. To my untrained eyes the hada does look tight, but I may be mistaken. I shall have to produce some high resolution pictures. I can see no utsuri (not that I would recognise it if I saw it). I see also two/three spots of darker, grainless steel (not shingane, though They are small. One is on the omote, two on the ura side. BTW, the boshi is hakikake and the hamon is very thin and very bright indeed. It consists of ko-nie. there is no ara-nie, whatsoever. Now, that is a puzzle (at least for me Best regards

For those of you, who don't like to open endless webpages here are some pics of the tanto. Sorry, I should have done it in ther first place...

Dear All, Some time ago I have acquired an interesting tanto, presumably a koto piece. It is signed Kuniyuki, most likely gimei. Still, I have been told that it exhibits the characteristics of a Rai school work. Here are some pics, sorry for the quality: http://gallery.me.com/mariuszk/100365 I would ask you for your opinion - is it koto? Is it Rai? What is it? I like it, but I am not an expert. Your opinions will highly apreciated. Best regards

Yes, but not before I am 100% sure that I am dealing with fraud (for the time being I am only 99% sure Best regards

Too late for that, more than 60 days have passed. And I have paid by wire transfer. Regards

Well, thanks, but I have never got any tracking number from this seller, which makes me suspicious. regards

Dear All, I have purchased a sword for $1,000 from a certain eBay seller (I will not disclose his identity before I have more facts). He has informed me that my package was lost and that: "it seems that the New Japan Post is not going to Honor any prior claims dated before October 1st 2007 . They have plainly said they are not going to payout on the insurance to us over the Telephone" and "EMS Japan no longer exists : New Japan Post is a `` Privately `` run company from the 1/10/2007 . They have stated clearly via a telephone conversation they will not honor prior or Future insurance claims on samurai swords tanto naginata , any antique samurai blade sent via ems" I am sure quite a few of the board members here will recognise this rather uniqe style of writing. What do you think of that and what action should I take? Best regards

Jacques, you have good eyes, congratulations and thanks :-) One of those ware seems to be filled with red urushi. regards

I have originally posted some higher resolution pics here, but the seller does not wish the pictures to be distributed anywhere outside eBay, so I had to respect his wish. Sorry. regards

hm, which leads me to the question - is this a good blade or not, in your opinion? regards