Alex A

One has a Sarcopenia appearance, thin limbs like it needs go gym.

Aye, I'm coming around a bit now to the notion this nonsense will get sorted...................hopefully Don't take bad collecting news well lol

Its the same with antique guns Colin. Can easily import them with UPS but apparently exporting isn't quite so straight forward

Hearing that don't make me any more confident about buying more swords, sad to say. Ps, might come across as overreacting lol, but no, just being prudent. Don't like what i see via those that govern us. Can just imaging some narrow minded soft ass know it all down at HQ intent on banning pointy things.

It wont matter whether they are "antique" ok or not as i expect more couriers and airlines to jump on the bandwagon So yes you can own them but no you cant post them, so as said in another recent thread the field of sale will narrow, should you want to sell. As in, someone willing to drive to your house kind of a sale What happens when the likes of Aoi art cant get their swords to be delivered here, they go via EMS and usually Parcelforce finish the job. Also as said in the other thread, folks that wish to ship swords abroad will be forced to use specialist shippers which are expensive. Shippers that get your sword to the designated airport. Its up to the buyer to get his arse to the airport and sort the pick-up out, no more sitting on the arse watching tracking and wating for the courier to arrive. At extra cost an agent will sort the extra hassles, if required. Pissed off but had an idea it was coming. Will try hang on to the antiques for now but feel the need to start selling my knife collection. Just to mention also. Your not supposed to post antique firearms with the post office, but folks do, without hassles.

Game over for me, Too risky hanging on to stuff that one day i cant ship Most will go. as from tomorrow.

All i will add is that good and "collectable" items can be found for affordable prices, even for folks on a tight budget. Takes a little time, patience and education. Its not just learning about swords etc, its about learning where to look and how spot something suspicious. If anything looks too good to be true then, as the saying goes. I surely believe there is no need to accumulate junk on any budget, that's from experience. Think too many threads lately involving "cookie" tsuba , iffy swords and uneducated sword searches are having an impact lol You don't get into any type of collecting without educating yourself a little, that's kind of dumb and a recipe for buyers remorse.

What you don't know Jonas is that i gave up over an hour of my life trying to help you out with the blade the other day. When folks like yourself ask for help, its not just a case of coming up with something off the top of the head, its a case of getting the books out and researching online,. You don't have the knowledge to go shopping for swords on Ebay, its a minefield, as you have just learned. Far from a snob, just someone that doesn't want to see someone throw their money away. Some folks come here with sword after sword without buying books and expecting constant input into their sword buying antics, don't be one of them Think i need to be more dont give a **** in future. Good luck

Hey Jonas, did you end up buying that book i recommended?., expect not You be better reading that, rather than buying something on Ebay and expecting folks here to tell you whether you been scammed or not. Ridiculous.

Photography is not good and they don't like to go out of their way to send more pics. That's about my experience.

Imagine the sword that deserves a $40000 sword bag

You asked I would say dont skimp on artistic interest just to get a hold of a sword because its supposedly Nanbokucho. That kind of money opens up doors where when you look at the sword you think wow With the one above, no real detail to be seen in the hamon, the jigane appears rough in places. Seen swords sell like that for £2500 On top of that mumei and suriage Anyways, horses for courses.

The Connoisseurs book of Japanese swords, for starters. https://www.amazon.c...gayama/dp/4770020716 That's cheap, when this book was out of print i think folks were asking £250 (if i remember correctly) Lots of posts about beginner books, you would need do a search.

Hi, thanks. Was hoping to see Mishina Boshi (Kyoto) but it don't appear to be the case. Its difficult from your images as cant really see the hada clearly. Looks wide, nakago/yasurime fits, yakidashi. Mishina were a Mino related group. Masame may appear in Shinogi-ji Anyways, leaning that way, maybe as kIrill points out worth looking into Osaka or anyone else you may find in that style. Always said unless a sword stands out as textbook for a school then it can become a very time consuming wild goose chase. I guess you cant fit every sword in a book, they are hand made, not mass produced so you will see differences. This is why i now tend to avoid mumei swords. Saying that though, i like your sword.

No worries, picture the boshi when you have time. Just had a bit of time. The hamon starts off quite straight, like Yakidashi but don't look obviously intentional. The nakago, the hamon and the feature i mentioned above had me looking at Mishina school but not convinced. There are similarities though. When you get time get us a clear pic of the boshi Welcome to the club.

Hi, i cant see the hada in your images. Do i see itame mix with MASAME?, think i see it

I see, look for schools that used that type of nakago-jiri in the Edo, Your pictures are so dark!. Try Edo Mino

Off top of head Edo Kaga maybe, do a search

Hard to tell with the pitting, kind of see something maybe a long the edge but cant say for sure. Anyways, your blade reminds me of a Katate-Uchi type from the Muromachi, mass production for war. Jussi put some dimensions up years ago that were listed in Kantei-Zenshu as Katate-uchi. One mentioned at 53cm, roughly the same blade length as yours. Do a search you will find that thread. It might be Bizen, maybe Mino Sue-Seki. On another note ive read that some Bungo swords are often very similar to Bizen, that's another story I said Sue-Seki because the Shinogi-ji is definitely masame and there is a coarse mokume in the hada (as described in Connoisseurs). In that book Sue-Seki is also described as having a "black" jigane without being bluish. I cant tell from the images for sure but that's the impression I'm getting. In hand i would know. What you have is an Antique sword in reasonable polish with the details that can be seen If it was cheap i think you did ok. I would say buy some books, you will appreciate what you have more if you become better informed.

Masame in the Shinogi-ji Also getting a Sue-Seki vibe Can you see any file marks in the nakago ?

I agree with that, unless NBTHK are aware of a distinguishing feature that only applies to one smith. Just looking at another signd Bungo Muneyuki on Aoi (disclaimer i have not had time to look more into this smith in regards the school above and im not saying its the same smith lol), they give a date of Early Edo. They describe it as "Hoshu Takada Ju Fujiwara Muneyuki is a work that is said to be a new ancient boundary that straddles Koto blade and Shinto swords" https://sword-auction.com/en/product/6392/as19653-刀：豊州高田住藤原統行/ The hada is a tight Ko-itame, the hada above does not look so tight, nakago jiri looks a bit different too. The thing is though, just speculating without having an whole bunch of information on hand . As said before, if NBTHK cant split it then we cant. You can trawl through books etc and come up with your own opinions (which may be reasonably accurate) but that's all you will ever have, this perfectly demonstrates the issue with mumei swords (and some signed) Very nice sword, would just enjoy it and forget about trying to narrow it down, there wasn't that much time between those smiths anyways.

That's a beauty. Looking at the dimensions, the long point, nakago and the hada, reminded me the type you see at the very end of the Muromachi. Its about that time you tend to come across more mumei. The index says there were four generations from the end of the Muromachi onwards, plus another in the Edo period. (if i read it correctly) Whatever the case, there's a lot to like about it

Yes, look at the blade characteristics you mention, shape and condition of the nakago, etc etc. You will pick it up. Welcome to the club, you will see a lot more swords like that. Just remember that it is often the case where you find variation in hada between a line of smiths in a school, even the same smith. Itame/mokume can often get somewhat muddled, explanation here which makes it more clear. https://markussesko....i-2-jigane-jihada-2/ Think about the number of blades a smith made over a long career. I think a another good thread could be which smiths deviated the least with their work over a career or vice versa. Read books and look at swords, in hand and online as much as possible. You will often question what is written, sometimes end up confused lol Learn a lot here by reading old conversations. Remember there are always exceptions to the rules, surprising what can turn up. Sorry Simon, gone off on one here., agree about the Muramasa book Back to books.

Its great that folks collect books, especially beginners. The thing about books though.......... Folks can have a library of books yet still not be able to give a reasonably accurate opinion on who made or when a sword was made.. Seen folks known for having many books state the totally wrong era for a sword in Kantei, easy kantei. To be honest, i find some books can be misleading as they only mention textbook type swords. As a quick example, they may just talk about a particular school hada being itame with masame, nothing of the oddball swords you may come across just in itame. Its the putting things in Boxes. Personally. prefer just looking at blades in online stores and reading their descriptions. Sometimes i think folks don't do this enough. You see this in their replies here, they just haven't seen enough outside of books to form their own opinions, missing an important perspective.

Nice tsuba, To me, the lines remind me of Horimono, Bo-hi etc So in that respect, would expect them to be done the same way. But what do i know.