TheGermanBastard

Hello John, why do you think so? I can't say if the blade has any Kizu. The Nakako isn't in nice condition. Looking at it, I would have though the blade too be quite a bit older due to the bad rusting. However if that thing polishes up nicely and gets TBH it should be worth 800.000 - 1 Million Yen easily ...

What is nice about it is its length. Not huge but solid. Overall a nice piece. The more I can understand the disappointment of the buyer as it is like a scratch in your otherwise perfect car.

... and those Tsuba do not get any better by adding a paper just more expensive. They are allready great.

I do not know. A paper is good if it servers as a mean of authentication when wanting to sell something. Juyo is again special. If you just want to get an oppinion you can also post it here or bring it to a club, a show whatever ... there are some really good folks out there whp can give a good oppinion free of charge. If you think you got the next Masamune, Kotetsu or Kyomara it is worth the effort for sure. If you just want to believe you have a Masamune you better avoid the Shinsa Now I do not wish to start a debate on Shinsas and organisation versus organisation. Everyone has too choose his own bible / church. But what often annoys me is that while the NBTHK is just the industry standard the papers do contain so little information unless you get to Juyo. Often there will be just a name ... no generation, no school, no nothing. Yes, if you can not for sure pin it down for sure you don't write it down either. This is logical. A paper should only contain information that can be verified NOT falsified. BUT often you have lets say 10 generations of Kinmichi or whatever. So if you are lucky there is a remark to the Shodei or Nidei ... but if you are not it just says Kinmichi. So the guy who wants to buy into a paper will ask what generation and you have to say I don't know. That sucks and is a dead road. I like the NTHK approach much better here. What I like the least is when I play smart, subkitt it to both ... get two totally different attributions but BOTH suck. I do want a 3rd organization or even more that I can try until I like the oppinion ... just kidding. The NBTHK is registered as a none profit organisation but people paper for profit at cost. This is somewhat a contradiction. Especially for Westeners this is a problem as the home of the Japanese sword is one of the most swordphobian nations. I'm speaking of the police registration. All my Japanese friends are fully uneager to spend their day at the police registering my junk. So I do not ask them to but have to use an agent. Hozon will in the end cost me around USD 600.00 ....so if we have our common medicore blade that is very nice and enjoyable you better do with your wives full understanding by taking her out for dinner or on holidays rather to argue you need to spend 600 bucks on a paper. Sorry for the offtopic and back to the topic: @ Bulletsprinkler: When you had inquired about one of my low cost Mumei tsuba asking if there was a paper I said NO there isn't but that I can happily add one of your choice at USD 250.00 extra- almost doubling the Tsuba price. That was the last time I had heared from you and you no longer cared to respond to my othe rmessages. So maybe this should tell you something about the effect of adding papers to low cost Kodugu and thus "increasing" their value (= price tag) .. teh cost has driven you away. So if you want to keep that Kozuka will it get any sexier when you have a paper? I don't think so. When wanting to sell it, do you think it will get picked up easier at adding 250 bucks on the price tag - wich buys you a quite nice Kozuka these days. I take the Kozuka then, not the paper. So unless you have some great Goto stuff or an early Koto Tsuba it is just burning money in most cases.

Well, it infact seems like sort of a language problem. Sorry for any possible confusion arising from this. Hence I want to clarify it: I said: > Kogatana by this dude => Kaneuji I did not say: > Kogatana polished by this dude => Ted Tenold I was not refering to Ted Tenold in any way. What I have seen of him just looks fine to me and he does nice work. Infact I was refering to the very medicore Ko-Gatana Maker. I do like Mino school BUT unfortunately most other people do not hold in high regard at all. Now that is two different cup of teas but it is also being reflected in the number of Mino School Juyo blades that are clsoe to zero. I think there are a couple by Kanemoto and maybe the next best guy ranked to him ... I do not recall it on to of my head. It is my personal oppinion that getting a Kogatana polished makes no sense in probably 95 out of 100 cases unless it is made by a very important maker or you just have too much money to spend, your fireplace is allready loaded with dollar bills and Amnesty International or Greenpeace is no longer in need of some donations. Furthermore I believe that just wanting to verify the validity of Kogatanas signature is rather challenging. Now I do not want to be cynical but in this very case it is just a text book example why you would not have wanted to get this Kogatana polished - due to having a bad Kizu. When we look at sword we must see that the majority of swords is NOT Art but a weapon of warfare - hence a TOOL. This is argueable to some degree of course. However what once got sold in Osafune in late Muromachi in huge bundles on the market is not ART hence nothing you would want to invest money into. In this case you could also buy some bottles of cheap red vide with the advanatge it will turn into vinegar one day or make you happy on a bad day ... unfortunately I can not. I don't drink. S I have to stay the grumpy jerk I am. No for the Kogatana. Something that was used to clean a Samurais kinky dirty toe nails or worse is NOT something to be considered ART in in most cases for sure. Again it is like wanting to go to the super market buy their best bottle of vine at 2.00 dollars and hoping for a benefit. Good luck though. I am prepared to get stoned or stabbed to death NOW but the ignorant dude I am, I would polish a Kogataan just myself. I would never encourage anybody to work on a Nihonto ... BUT on a Kogatana it is pretty easy to get reasonable result in your DIY Kitchen Table studio.

Hello Josh, well it is a good maker and aside from the flaw the blade looks healthy so I am not too surprised since having seen worth than that papered to TBH. On the other hand I am surpised what blades sometimes fail TBH Shinsa. So from that point of view it is interesting that this one passed but as we can see not impossible. A polisher could probably fix the gap more or less. Best regards

PS: Aside from that potential issue I enjoy the Hada, too.

PS: For Saya restoration in the USA I recommend Randy Black. He does very nice Sayas and especially his Tsuka work is excellent. However getting only part of some lacquer restored is very chalenging as you have to match the original one very well.

The Aoi Art owner is excellent at his drawings. A true artist. Sometimes his drawings can get even too artistic - while we must keep in mind that such a kind of drawing is always a piece of art thus personal interpretation like an expressionistic painting ...well, maybe not such loose thing though However there must be a reason why the master decided to stop his work all at a sudden. Cutting off one of his ears might be an explanation but a rather unlikely one ... so I go with what I believe to see ... offering a far easier and ugly explanation: a dipping of Hamon. I can not say for sure but think it is dipping of the edge in several places. If the Hamachi was more gone I would be more certain ... but in this case my eyes, the drawing, a missing paper and the very low price make me think there is a bummer.

Ah I see images have been added ... Why would you want to get it papered? You asked me about one of my tsubas sometime ago if it had a paper ... Unless you have some really good Kodugu it makes NO sense getting it papered. You see 50 bucks Tsubas with papers priced at USD 300.00 ... Adding a 250 bucks paper does not increase the value on a lower pile piece.

This post makes no sense without any images. So the only valid and accurate reply you can get to your question is: I do not know

Fully agree to what the other have suggested

Why would you want to get a Kogatana by this dude polished anyway? It is not economical. So if I were you I wouldn't have done that in the first place. Continuing being you I would now not be mean and let the polisher finish his work as this is just peanuts and having a hafly finished polish is no good either anyway. if you keep it you can then enjoy the work ... if you wish to sell it will be better, too. Nobody wants halfy done stuff.

if it was my blade I would have disclosed the flaw as I feel it goes beyond your common Mune Ware ... it is not a nice one and one of the more uglier ones I have seen. If I were you I would a) Decide if to keep it or not. b- If wishing to keep it aks for a partial refund c) Otherwise return it Aoi Art sells a large number of blades. They basically try to turn them around quickly. So fault can simply slip ... hence I would kindly point that out to the vendor.

Well, look at the sword drawings ...

Well, I am suspicious about this blade but them guranteeing it will pass Hozon should take away any concerns as you should be able to return it ... however I am not convinced it will get Hozon.

I think the price it went for was not too much considering the Nagasa

No need for the blade ... the Mei tells it all. The description by the auctioneer is complete bogus. That is an apprix 1390 - 1400 Nobukuni and I have no doubt the Mei is good. Still it shows that even a wrongly described item with bad pictures may not be an easy pick up at a bargain price. This one I really would have had an interest in getting put through Shinsa. There are so many nice things out there in this world. This was even one of the nicer ones. If anybody here bought it: Congrats and good luck!

Not a fatal flaw and acceptable while not not that nice - where it all depends on the price tag and your personal taste at the end of the day. Is that a Wakizashi which we had seen on eBay recently?

Because it is not from Shinshinto?

hello Christoph, I see what you mean and I can not rule out there a Hagire but can confirm them either from the provided images.

i think there is no question about it being a true nihonto ... but yes many potential risks. i would not be too suspicious about hagire but rather the condition of the nakako

I thought the blade was not too beaten up to feasable. But I would not have thrown in more than 300 USD

... this Nobukuni had very high potential in my cheap oppinion: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/Japanese-katana-sword-shin-shinto-no-kuni-93-c-08941289a8 Also very nice mounts. Unfortunately someone had deeper pockets than I do. 10k includibg oremium and given it was not in good polish is a tough call for a treasure hunt though but maybe I am just too mean.

Hello Ray, thank you. I had not recognized it as a Kaga blade but that makes sense. It being a Shino piece also makes sense. Well done. Regards