TheGermanBastard

> What's wrong with generating profit? Do *you* work for free? No I do not work for free. Atleast not if your are talking to me as a professional in my field of expertice. Then you are talking to me business. > Besides, it's not a privately owned business but an educational institution, the profit doesn't make the president richer or pays for a luxury lifestyle of the NBTHK officers, the money is used So we have an educational organizations that tries to generate profit. As per your posting. This is absolutely fine with me as an educational organization which is not atleast breaking even will run out of "business" and thus become disfunctional ... I would love to see Amnesty Interational or Docotors without Frontiers generate huge profits - to fund their good doings ... but if the organization operates so well based on its fees that it commulates profit, one may ask if it is still an organization or a business .. or something in between? I do not know the anually reports of the NBTHK and what they spend their money on. I just know their fees and the time consumed for a Shinsa ... and that they are not Amnesty. I wrote in a different post that I do believe information will often have its price and that for example books on Nihonto like from Markus Sesko and many other enthusiasts are rather cheaply priced given the time and effort. So if I look up the hourly salary of a university professor for a lecture I would like to think the fees of that educational organization called NBTHK are not on the bottom but rather on the top ... for whatever purpose they may serve. Don't get me wrong I am just the unpleasent jerk who is doubtull about everything ... and whenever an institution asks money for some oppinion one has the right to ask questions. > ... assuming jūyō is some kind of lottery with a (barely achieved) hozon paper as the entry ticket. Maybe things have changed so correct me if I am wrong ... from what I remember a Hozon paper used to be an entry "ticket" but prices have risen recently as you now need a more ring side ticket that they call TBH and that is about twice that expensive to get ready to rumble. While we shall not call it a lottery we call it a competition ... everybody throws in his stuff for the great battle royal and depending on which competitor show up on that day you may be more or less competative with your ticket - the unknowledgeable ignoarant guy blantly would call this luck ... and if he is not having a lucky day it is common knowledge that he is adviced to try again next time, and maybe some more. Depending on his fortune (sorry I don't find any better word - eventhough I tried hard) he may stand better chances then and win the great price: a highly educational certificate (since this is only about education and not business). I think the TBH roundtrip for a blade is currenty around 750.00 - 1000.00 for a Gaijin, counting in fees, postage and agent handling fee ... Gosh, you can get some pretty entertainings stuff spending close to 1k! I am rather in for the food and drinks! So let's get ready to rumble.

should get tbh ... BUT not sure if it is worth the extra $$$ ... i think tbh used to be rather superficial as hozon would give you the same attributiion / validation as tbh ... but now itb is needed if wanting to go for juyo ... in my oppinion a mean to simply generate more profit without reason

And one more remark: I do not like this companies approach at all to get their pitbull "lawyer" (if he really exists) after people. I would avoid anybody acting like this.

Stephen & sergei @ Both of you: I am basically with you in terms that we don't need this kind overpriced things. Atleast I don't. But then pricing is again subjetive. You see a real 10 Million bucks Monet somewhere priced at 5000 USD but you don't have that money in your pockets. So you go to some guy and tell him you can sell him a real Monet at 1 Million. He pays you that amount being most happy he got a 10 Million Canavas with paint on it at a low ball 1 Million. Overpiced? Subjective I'd say. ... but most important tell me if you would not do that because you think it is unfair? Come on guys ... But back to teh topic: As I said I am basically with you as it just spam but for the stupid buyer ... do I feel sorry about taht buyer? No I do not because everybody has the gievn right to be as stupid as he can. Infact I might be even jealous on this guy because unlike me he is not a poor stupid chap but obviously a rich stupid chap who can afford not to type a smith / artist name into Google to look up prices. BUT for the most importnat question: Do we know that the original owners did not agree to those sales adverst? I do not because I did not ask them as I do not care. But sicne you do care: Did you ask them and if yes what was their reply? Unless the original owner has stated he is in disagreement over this sales practice we do ramp about something that is simply not our business. @ Sergei: You wrote: "eBay is made to make fair people sell to fair people." Good Morning. Wake up ... No it is NOT. eBay is made to generate revenue for eBay Inc - nothing else. End of the line. @ Stephen: Yes, I do own all of these swords. And yes I herby agree that YOU can offer my sword for sale to anybody anywhere and sell it to them as long as I get the $$$ that I want. If you find me a buyer I will admire it very much. Regards, Luis

Why is that not good? There's always two sides of the medal. Given you buy that Tsuba then it is good for them because they have earned money. On the other side it is bad for you because you likely overpaid. Then in the end it is just offering something on the market and fishing for someone pickung up the bait. Youd did your homeowrk and would have bought the piece directly from the source so you are fine. Anybody taking something in comission literally does this. It is nothing illegal.

Well, personally I am not into those fittings but the blade looks like it could be a solid pre Muromachi piece. Though I wouldn't be in at that price.

A 2nd chance case anybody is interested eventhough price has went up considerably. https://www.ebay.com/itm/WW-II-Japanese-Samurai-PILOT-TANK-CREW-SWORD-Antique-Old-Family-NAGINATA-NAOSHI/362199913435?hash=item5454cc13db:g:2IYAAOSwBRFaR9c3

Well, on top of my head I can not recall any Togishi who does not state his basic rate. With most polishers it is 80.00 - 120 USD / inch. I see nothig wrong about them stating their price. Hence I asked Martin via PM. Since the reply was rather esoteric it is not my cup of tea but I wish Martin good luck with his ventures though and look forward to seeing some of his work posted here.

Getting the handle rewrapped and Saya restored should rund at about USD 250 - 300.00

Economically speaking unfortunately the answer is no in this case. However if you feel a special attachment to it then it doesn't matter. However you should not spend 100.00 / inch for a olish but go with a less high rate in my oppinionb. Also could consider having the Saya split. cleaned and restored and thus avoiding thetc cost of a Shirasaya.

please let us know about thre result. the qualiyt of the polish will usually not matter at hozon level.

To add credability and / or impress somebody

Its my understanding that NBTHK wont give a sword Hozen if they think a cutting test is fake, but what do I know. Hello Alex, well if it can be falsified one has to consider it legit. Hence if it is a cutting test signed by some common guy in the street on whom there is no record it will always pass,

Hello James, since it does not sound crazy to me at all you should reconsider your point! ... no, to be serious: I fully understand you and couldn't agree more! Blades have a certain feeling to them and if it feels good you can not ask for more! Teh balde you choose has the better workmanship. being suriage just hurts the value not the quality of the work. So enjoy! If the test is modest you should have confidence in it. We just need to be suspicious where a story gets to fabulous to be true. Hope you will enjoy your sword ... I don't know whom you plan on using for your Koshirae building but I can recommend Randy B. within the USA. Very good work at excellent prices ... I'm happy to give you his contact data by personal message.

Hello James, I had allready replied to you by eMail. The Workmanship in 17310 is better than in 15854... However 15854 is Ubu and 17310 is Suriage. So in the end you have to decide on the precise and your personal taste. With 17310 you have choosen a blade with nice workmanship. Cutting tests should always be taken with a grain of salt - especially like in your case. You can have a cutting test by a well known tester. This dude would use his Kao and there are records to verifiy if the mei is legitimate. Then we have the test done by some common guy in the street. Those tests can usually neither be verified nor falsified. Hence the NBTHk will usually just paper them and people literally buy into them with great pleasure - you can testify to the last statement ;( In this case you should use your common sense and see what the test says. if it says Dude Strong Cut sliced through 5 bodies with this killer Wakizashi ... well then it is likely a fake as Dude Strong Cut and even Steven Segal would have a very hard time to accomplish this. So to make it short: The more modest the inscription the more likely to be true ... the higher and exagerated the claims the less likely to be good. Fake News is a pretty old thing infact ... Also be suspicious about gold inlayed or just painted test that look to be in excellent condition ... especially the paint jobs are to be regarded as suspicious if in pristine condition.

Hello Bob, that's from teh Nobukuni Tachi I assume? I can unfortuantely not give you a qualified answer. Atleast it is does not look like a good match for the images provided by Peter. But this said I thought the work in your Kodugu to be very nice.

Mike, I do not intend to insult you in anyway but your sword is simply JUNK. It is a modern made chinese knock off with a random fake signature added that has no sense to it and I think it is not even worth 50 bucks. The reason they pick some random name is because they hope that somebody will buy into it. There is NO reason behind it.

There was also another blade included with this auction lot ... it was a signed Koto Wakizashi ... not by an important guy but pretty nice piece to look at. Total for both blades including premium was around 4000 USD. Given both blades were in polish I think this was a good price. The Katana looked clean without Kizu.

Hello Bob, a very nice sword. Please let us know how it does at Sinsa. Also doy ou have any images prior to polishing?

Hello Ken, I agree. So we can agree that a Hagire is about the only fatal flaw in a blade from the point as a weapon as it may cause the sword to break into parts - while so many other things a collector will consider fatal will not prevent the swords from use as a weapon at all. Just take the issue of retempering for example. It may "heal" a blade and make it useable as a weapon again while it will most probably fully destroy its purpose as an art sword. As far as the Boshi goes: How often do you stab with a katana and how often do you slice / cut? 99 out of 100 time you will cut rather than stab ... and then again if you are good at what you are doing, you can probably - as you correctly said - kill your opponent with the wrong end of the blade or even with a broom that has neither a tempered edge nor an edge at all.

Hello Ken, well I don't need to train Iaijitsu in order to be able to hurt someone with a sword and aside from a hagire there is little that will make my blade fall apart and thus prevent me from hurting another individual. But since you have more insight: What flaw in a sword will prevent you from killing another individual?

I am not with you on this Ken. Missing Boshi ... rather fatal as an Art sword but won't really affect the use as a weapon ... Or let's take bad Shintetsu / Tieredness ... none fatal as a weapon but again fatal as an Art sword. Giev a Shinshinto blade some areas of Shintetsu while the blade may still have a lot of meat and the blade is a bummer while you can chop your neighbour into pieces just fine ...

Yes, I think it was the garth auction. To me this was the most interesting looking blade they have had. Overall some things I considered to be worthy of bidding while my pockets were unfortunately empty

Here is another sword that recently got sold in a floor auction. While I did not buy it, I thought it to be a rather interesting blade. As most of the time the provided images are not that great but good enough to tell it is a quality blade. What do you think of it? It looked like there were some pieces from an old collection as they had all been in Shirasaya. They also sold off quite some Kodugu. Interestingly mostly Daisho Sets - with some nice ones and some pretty poor ones that almost looked like the collector may have gotten cast copies done of some pieces- Anyway I thought this Daito to be of decent quality and a good candidate for Shinsa submission. If anybody here bought it (Bob? ) please let us know how it turns out. Regards, Luis

Hello Bob, I really liked what was visible of the Koshirae. Does the Saya also have Kodugu on it? Also please post some images of the blade here. The ones I got from the auction house were pretty poor. Case you submitt it to the NTHK US Shinsa and it fails you shouldn't be afraid that it is no good. I think buying this sword was just a good move and neither stupid not requiring much courage - only the necessary funds. Again congrats and hope you enjoy it.