TheGermanBastard

Why? The British museum could be right if the stated that the blade is 500 years old and got buffed and chromed. If I was a smart ass seller I'd take the best out of that stating the blade is 500 years old according to the British museum ... the less pleasent things would get lost (along with the paper). So the seller did not necessarily lie but just did present t he blade in the best possible way.

I just gave the blade a 2nd look ... at first glance the Nagao looked like a Chinese knock off as it was missing any Yasurimi ... but that is probably because the ting git buffed 60 years ago including Nagako. The rust level on teh Nagako would also be right for around 60 years. Overall this blade is mere junk and however paid 3000 punds is a wealthy moron ... so I would be happy to be him

You sometimes do see them having gotten chromed by the GI. It is a pitty as usually before the chroming the blad gets buffed - whch is worse than the chromig itself that could be polished away. With this blade someone obviously tried his best to restore it and make it shiny again. So the chromeing just goes hand in hand with the Tsuka job and possibly a cleaned Nagako. The blade is most probably ruined through the grape vine. Some days ago there was a Tadayosho Waki on eBay ... possibly good for the 4th generation but the seller had tried to show the signature by cleaning it with steel wool ... too bad (while that partocular blade had some otehr issues though ...)

Hello Bob, yes I did see it and consider bidding but having too many Wakizashi in my collection I did not participate. The mounts are solid iny my humble oppinion. I like the Tsuka and its Kodugu. The Tsuba is average. I agree on the same. I beleive it is an interesting blade that I woild love to hear wha it turns out like. I keep my fingers crossed it has a nice Hamon.

I think it has a fair chance. Not bad for sure at what you paid ... I have seen a lot of good Tadatsuna Gimei. For his students I would expect changes to be smaller of being Gimei. Please let us know how it turns out. I would think It will paper.

I would want to think it got chromed.

Hello Peter, I am not good on Tsuba but think it is a Shoam Tsuba from around 1750 - 1850. Somebody else will probably be able to give you a better oppinion though. It is not an unusual piece in my oppinion. Condition and work is good.

ha ha ... yes, makes more sense! Too bad I was expecting a great black magic trick to be passed on

hello, this sounds interesting. Can you please explain this technique some more? Wouldn't the chili substances hurt the Hadori?

I do not think it is a Hagire. Has it Hozon? If yes then then it has no Hagire 99.9% Don't worry about embarassing him! It is a legiimate question to ask for Kizu. He wants to do business with you so it is just legitimate to ask. Straight questions gets straigther answers. Just make sure you ask a question and don't make an assumption and you are all fine. It is always better to settle something prior to it becoming a problem. Just imagine there is a Hagire and it got missed by accident. It is better to find this out in adance rather than after a deal is conducted. The vendor would then be much more ashamed given he did not know it.

I am subjective now. Oil Hardneing = Showato but still blade can be handmade. Machine made = Likely no Thamagane used and no "classic" construction with soft core and hard sell but just cut / hammered from one piece of steel and no folding at all. or in other word: A piece of stell shaped like a Katana and a fake Hamon either etched or roughly polished.

It definately is THE Masamune - in the owners oppinion ... Hence he would be unlogical on his side to not ask a tremendous amount for it ... which again on your side just should drop your interest in this blade to 0. Believers want to believe.

I do not see why these blades ought to be machine made for sure. Atleast on blade 1) I am 99.9 sure it is NOT machine made ... Hirazukuri and pre Showa Periode ... But in my humble oppinion it does not really matter because all you have there is a partial metal tsunagi. As a Nihonto there is no more value in them.

First of all I think the person who set up the description most likely just made a typo! You see this often on AOI Art. Sometimes information is missing, sometimes they give information that is not accurate like saying blade has TBH while there is only Hozon Origami etc. This is sloopy but I do not think resulting from bad intentions. Now for this blade in particular: Would it receive TBH? Most probably (99.9%) NO. Atleast not today nor in the near future. In 100 years? Probably yes. What is modern today will be an antique in 50 years. I feel not comfortable at judging the qualiyt of the blade. While I agree that this is most probably a great example of Nagamitsu - he signs those differently - it is hard to judge the blade as the foremost "problem" is that it has received a pretty poor polish. Put a bad polish on just about any blade and it will make it look bad ...

His prices for Sirasaya are quite reasonable. Does anybody have sample images of those? As far as this sword goes. I am with Ken. Make sure you don't end up with an investment that would get you buried. Thsi will also depend on how much you allready have invested in your sword. If you don't mind, can you please let us know how much you paid?

Good Price in just a bad market / time.

I fully support this. I am just curious about the odd wrapping. It looks too sophisticated on the one hand to be by some unknowledgeabke Westener ... then again I personally have not seen this sytle ever before.

of course it is signed Mitsumori! See sellers images

Condition is not great but it is Ko Bizen and even signed.

I think likeable things are always more sexy than less admireable ones people prefer to believe in favorable things to them ,,, if there was only Hell in the bible it would not have become a best seller ...

Hello Darcy, what you have written is very true but I think you may have gotten carried away a bit I had deleted my lengthy answer in my last post, too as I felt it was no good as all has allready been said on this Tanto. This blade had been on eBay for quite a while and did not sell. A lot of long term collectors had seen it there but did not buy it. I do not say that this blade is bad at all. I like it. It has nice workman ship ... BUT it is not a simple money maker. It had been offered by an expirienced dealer. I do not need any knowledge on Nihonto at all to say that sending it back to the NBTHK now is no good ... because if it was, then the dealer who sold that blade would have done this. Instead he choose to sell it for a price that is acceptable to him and someone bought it for a price acceptable to them. So both parties should be happy. End of line. However dreaming of simply re-submitting this blade back to Shinsa and getting some attribution making it possible to turn it around for twice the initial purchase price bearly will work. If there was a good chance to this the original owner would have done so as he is not stupid at all. Atleast I think it is a good thing to believe otehr people not to be stupid. Thinking of oneself as the smartest guy in the room has a potential of unexpected failiure Such money maker deals may work if you walk up to some garage sale and buy something from a totally unknowledgable dude for cheap money. But byuing from an expirienced dealer will give you the benefit of getting something for what it is likely worth but for sure not a 50% below value bargain ... if you did get that, then this dealer would long have been out of business. It is what it is now. Of course it can be resubmitted but the only thing for sure then is that it will beanother USD 500.00 tput owards a blade that will never be a really valueable thing in the end. I feel this money should better be put twowards a Shirasaya that really fits it well. I can already see some rubbing to the polish and it would both be a pitty and a finiancial loss if the polish gets worn down by the blade housed in a poorly fitting Shirasaya that was taken from a different blade.

I have nothig to add. Nice blade.

Hello Mark, this question can not be answered sicne good is a wide term as was Muromachi peridode There would be a price increase but to give you a number you will have to give a name - see the problem?

This is a question that can not be answered in any way. First of all your ticket will be about 500 USD not 1000. Then what it is worth you will only know after you get the results. It is like buying a real lottery ticket. What the ticket is worth you will only know after it has been opened. You may end up with a attribution to a very good smith ... or a lesser one ... or with an attribution to a school only ... or in the maybe worst case you get exactly teh same result liek you allready have. Some people buy swords, some buy papers, some buy papered swords. I can see a nice blade and most people will probably the same.

So you can take another shot at the lottery if you want to sell it ... if wnating to keep it I would skip that.