Louie Skebo

At this point I can see masame in the shinogiji and masame in a few spots on the the ji itself, but it needs a window opened to clear out the fuzzy wartime polish and the heavy burnishing. Practically no nie exist and if ko-mokume apprears in a window then Chikuzen Nobukini school is a contender for sure. The horimono is poorly carved. I'll just enjoy it as it is for the time being. Louis

Well said Joe, I am curious to see what the moderators say. Regards, Louis

Hi There, I am curious as to why an author can't delete his/her own post. Seems like if a newbie writes a post and then thinks it might be in the wrong section then he should be able to remove it and post it in the proper area?? Maybe the author just wants his/her info removed and would not want to have to go through a tribunal process to have it removed - seeing as how they authored the port in the first place. Maybe if Shan were able to remove some of his posts then he wouldn't have been assaulted the way he has been. Just curious. Regards, Louis

Hi Brian, I have no idea about the relation to the fellow or not. More will come out when it is all done and hit the media here, there is some local (Canada) hype about it.

I like when some history is attached to these swords, most often we know nothing about them, it is important to pass on as much info as we can. I also have the sword mentioned in this article below. It was donated to the Canadian War Museum and they sent it to me for restoration. It is a Naginata Naoshi, 29 inch nagasa, a beautiful blade in poor condition but will be stunning when finished. With any luck it will be on display to the public. Incidently, from a historical point of view it is a very important piece as it is the only sword ever to be surrendered by a Japanese officer (the POW camp commanding officer gave it to her) to a woman, who was also a civilian, and who was Canadian - 3 firsts. The Commanding officer was probably not a very popular person back home for doing this. There was a history channel movie or documentary made about Ms. Fletcher and how she saved both the Japanese soldiers and the Dutch Sumatrans from the Sumatran Nationalists when the war ended. BAMFORD FLETCHER, JOAN (1918–79) In 1945 REGINA’s Joan Bamford Fletcher captured headlines in Canada and Britain after shepherding some 2,000 Dutch civilian captives from a Japanese prison camp through the Sumatra jungle to safety: while commanding seventy vanquished but armed Japanese soldiers she guided the evacuees through territory swarming with hostile Indonesian rebels. This remarkable feat earned her an MBE, a Samurai sword, and public renown. Born in Regina in 1918, Bamford Fletcher came from a family of prosperous cotton merchants in England. After early years spent on their dairy farm near Regina, she attended boarding school in England in the 1920s, and took further schooling in Belgium and France. After the outbreak of WORLD WAR II Fletcher first trained as a driver in the Canadian Red Cross transport section, then traveled to Britain around December 1940 and joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY). In Scotland she worked as a driver for the exiled Polish army. At war’s end she was sent to Sumatra, where her rescue feat took place. Later she was posted to the British Embassy in communist-held Poland, but eventually returned to Canada, where she died in 1979.

Hi there, I just recently acquired this sword and thought I would share it here. It has significance to Canadian military history so I find it interesting. The sword itself is nice as well. Take a look if interested. When I get more info on the owner I will add it to my site. http://www.japaneseswordcollector.com/pow/pow.html Regards, Louis

Yes and no. If a signature is correct then yes it can, if false then it can decrease the value, but sometimes the mei is false but the sword is still made by a good smith. And, sometimes the speculation of a good mei by a top smith can fetch a higher dollar - for the treasure hunter. Nothing is simple in the world of nihonto.

Gimei? No problem. Fittings of the poorest kind? "Modest but average". Age or quality of a blade? Who cares? It's probably Japanese and therefore a little piece of art. Let's reduce NMB to the question: Is it of Japanese origin or not? We can take things easy again and play the game like most of the Meiji boys did. No more painstaking research, no more disappointing answers. It looks Japanese from a distance? Great! Any more questions? reinhard Trashing a new collectors sword doesn't really accomplish very much, in fact it usually turns them right off this board. Brian was mentioning in another post the other day that many people just join the board post a few times and then are never heard from again - from what I gather it is because of your exact "alpha dog" attitude you mention all the time in an effort to make it seem like you really aren't trying to be the king of the hill. I am sure you'd like to just see the best of the best on here all the time so we could be in sword heaven but that isn't the case and it never really will be. The bottom line is that the majority of the swords we will see on here will be the type just like he posted. Maybe you could post up your top of the line collection in a section dedicated to the best of the best? That way the plebes wouldn't intrude on your day and activities. I suspect this thread will end up being locked like most of the others you contribute to though, well done - again. It's funny to see the revolving circle of people that show up on this board, your type has come and gone over the years, you come in and make a bunch of newbies feel like idiots then leave to some other board where I'm sure you'll do the same thing again and again. It's too bad though, too bad for this board and too bad for potential collectors. Go ahead and make some smart ass responses, I won't be on here to see them, but I will come back to see how things are in a couple of years - and I bet you'll be gone:) Cheers, Louis

Nice modest mounts, not high quality but average type stuff - which is perfectly fine. From the limited pictures of the blade is looks ok, no idea if there are any flaws or problem areas. It is in good polish so that is half the battle - ie the whole package can be enjoyed as is. The signature is pretty poorly chiseled and is most likely gimei but that is ok too. Looks to be shinto from the pics, would have to see more to make an accurate assessment - could be shinshinto, could be koto. Enjoy the blade as is, nice little piece of art you have there. Louis

Judge the blade - not the signature. Regards, Louis

Hi there, I'm having trouble with the second last character, any ideas? I think it reads "Oite Noshu ju kinka san roku nagaragawabe fujiwara ....... michi" Right so far? Regards, Louis

Yes it is a nice little one, I also have this large one with the broken tip that I have to get around to fixing. Most of them are in the poor condition like the others in the photo. I have owned some very nice papered ones though. I decided to work on the blade a little this morning. The blade is actually a greyish colour - not shiny like the picture shows from my flash. A shiny surface is not proper.

Hi Guys, I have always loved these little things, although most of them have been abused beyond the point of restoration. I just got this one recently, it actually has a shinogiji as you can see in the last picture - most are flat on both sides. I'll probably polish it next week.

Hi Barry, you are welcome to anything off my site if you like. http://www.japaneseswordcollector.com If you dig a little I am sure there are some useful pictures on there. Regards, Louis

The other side usually isn't polished, but there is a process that should be done to that side to clean it up before the main polish is started. Regards. Louis

That is true but currently the only other way around it would be to just make the seller an offer to take it of ebay - which is good by me.

Hi Guys, probably a repost but I am getting furious emails from guys who can't bid on my swords because they live in the UK. I guess this is a new policy for ebay? I can't seem to find their written policy on it. Ebay is pretty horrible to deal with - and paypal is raping us. I feel for the UK guys. I think the ebay rules are a little nuts, can't buy ww2 stuff with nazi symbols on them either. Louis

Spend 1000 on books and 3000 on this: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5075

Lots of tricks eh. I am curious as to why someone would go through all that work or removing a mei, filing, acid etching, aging, and then leave a little nub on the end of a nakago after cutting it off. Red herring?? That part doesnt make sense to me. But I can see where you say the temper runs back and up the nakago. Maybe an alteration on top of an alteration etc etc . Reminds me of fighting a fire at an old farm house, we often cut a hole in the roof to find it was an addition put on the the 1970's, then go through that one and find there was another addition in the 20's. But finally we get to the root of the fire. I'm always amazed at the lengths people go through to "modify" a Japanese sword. Louis

Good advice Ted. Also, if you have a $4000.00 budget, then I suggest spending a sizable percentage of that on reference books. Most sword collectors have a great deal of money (in books) sitting on a shelf very near to their swords. Louis

I am pretty sure I see remnants of a removed signature, strikes here and there that have been pushed in. Look closely at the nakago. Also, does the nakago smell like a chemical? I believe as well that a mei was removed and some hardcore acid aging was incorporated. Just my opinion. Louis

I suggest going to this site and study all the info there, it is very useful and will help educate you: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/ Informative topics: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/information.html And here is a brief about acid polishing: http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/acid%20polishing.html Regards, Louis

If I might add, katana's are nice, but you pay a premium for a longer blade, so I suggest a wakizashi or even a tanto. For 4K you can get a much better quality tanto or wakizashi. You will find more to look at, better quality, better mounts possibly. Westerners like big long blades it seems, like big V8 engines. Go for a nicer 4 or 6 cylinder instead - better quality for the same price. Brian, about half the time I try to access the pages here I get an error message - any ideas? Louis

Try not to get caught up in the paper frenzy, buy a sword based on the blade - not the papers. Just my opinion. Louis

You are quite fortunate to have this blade and the history attached to it, not to mention your family history back so far. Regards, Louis