Jean

Maybe Naoe Shizu - wild guess as obviously you are not Darcy, Milt. Don't bother about Nie/Nioi deki you have both in Naoe Shizu

Tim, Mainly from workmanship

Sharp eyes Carlo , I saw them too but did not think anybodyelse shall notice them. I bought my wife a Gingko a few years ago.

Congrats Carlo!!!

Shan is right and put it clearly No time for sale

The Koop & Inaba is a very good one too. I bought it more than 20 years ago. Very interesting one. You will learn what is a radical Whatever the book, you shall have to work hard if you want to progress in kanji reading Nothing is acquired easily in life but :D :D

but for the O suriage ones :D :D , that is why it is interesting to have O suriage blades because you are attracted not by the $ value of the blade but by its artistic value

French saying : Mother Nature houses all tastes

Thanks Jacques for the info. I don't like the kanji "yoshi" in the mei. Don' match the given example : shoshin mei the yoshi box is closed, on this sword it appears to be opend on the upper left. on the soshin examples the upper part of the knji is not centered but slightly shifted to the right. on this sword it seems centered. on this sword the upper part of the Yoshi kanji, the vertical stroke seems to cross the horizontal one

KUNIYOSHI BUNKASAI HO-JI 1247 YAMASHIRO 227 K 302 KUN 1828 SAI-JO/JUYO 2000 father/teacher NORIKUNI from ShoShin site, period is different from the one given by Jacques, it should be croos checked between Hawley, Toka Taikan, Fujishiro A whole picture of the blade (tang to tip) will be welcome. What are blade measurements, nagasa, sori, width at the hamachi/at the yokote I am not sure the suguta and measurements fit this : http://www.arscives.com/historysteel/im ... lution.jpg

Japanese tea, served traditionally, of course

In time of crisis, seldom does cash go to Art Market - Auction Houses are going to face bleak days and so dealers. Extra cash shall be invested in sectors having an IRR much higher than Nihonto. Nihonto markei is too narrow and is far from being a high yield market. Forex is also a component to be taken into account.

Milt my friend, We are heading a bit but I shall brieffly answer you. All changes affecting negatively assets, affect cash. Or cash circulation is vital for Economy ===> I hope not but we could be heading towards a depression, prices going down but nobody buying. Cash is vital but where does it come from : from selling assets. Crisis ==> cash shortage, Your e-bay business could be affected and a lot of people have already, in the States, been hit by the sub prime crisis, GM is almost bankrupt, all is aiming towards a major crisis which shall and has already affected the Art Market and our Nihonto market

Piers, I volunteer to bring the kettle but I let you bring in the tea

MAC (I love acronymes - NMB introduces me to them) means Material Adverse Changes and is a commonly clause in International Credit contracts which allows the lender to ask for a total reimbursement of the loan in case there is a brutal change in the Economical environment of the Borrower. Ex: Stock Exchange has collapsed (NYSE, NIKKEI, CAC40 ..), Japanese yen has increased its value by 25% since 2/3 months, these Material Adverse Changes prevent me to buy the 3 Tokuju I was targetting I had in mind. PS : It is a metaphore/example, of course

It is time to celebrate, let's drink tea

Thanks Brian for this prompt answer

Taking into account that : The last world economy crisis is spreading/worming its way everywhere including in Russia, China; The $ and yen value have increased of about 20/25% during the last 3 months; Christie's last auction seem to indicate that people spend less and less money. Are these effects aready noticeable in Japan? What is the share of Western countries in Japanese Nihonto market? Has any NMB dealer member notice a slow down in the businees, is it slack?

In fact Kao is at the origin a seal, but I think that Guido is much more educated than me in this. Makes me think of this old movie where a couple won a seal at a Bingo (not the Kuni) but the seal was an animal ...

Hi Dirk See my last post about "Translation of Tsuba mei"

Hi Stephen my friend, You are right, anybody able to post on NMB must be able to google such a word as "kao". I am very lazy by nature but I refuse to be ashamed of myself in front such an audience by asking such questions Newbies be aware that knowledge is not "logos" (google the word) coming from "experts". Even experts are subject to errors. Research is the key-word. Sweat and strained are scholar common law. Try to read and learn and make your own opinion. Nihonto Example : what is the difference between mokume and Itame. Even Experts disagree. It is like: Which came first : chicken or egg. Some experts say that everything is Mokume and that that itame is an extension of mokume. Some experts say the opposite. Other say there is no link. The main difficulty is to be independant and make its own opinion - read a lot, see a lot of blades. I can give hundreds of examples showing that Nihonto as a rule is made of exceptions. Sue Mino is considered as being mokume hada. It is everything : Mokume, itame, masame every thing being mixed. Sue Mino is considered as being Nioi deki, true upto 70/80%, the rest is nie deki, the same smith being able to produce both kind of deki. At the opposite early Mino is known to be nie deki but 20/30% of blades are Nioi deki. Kantei, in my opinion, is a joke, because you have to see a blade gathering all the stereotypes from a schoom or a smith, which will happen only if you are able to handle first or second generation of masters, small chances. 99% of the blades you shall handle won't meet these criteria. AND NOW ladies and Gentlemen I am going to sleep over this wonderful Thaï dinner and Sancerre wine I had as I am realizing I am becoming talkative, I hope Guido/Brian/Ted and Stephen shall forgive me.

I don't know, probably the same as Kiku had or Fuji yama hada

In fact I dislike it, I don't know why, it makes me uneasy, too showy, perhaps polishing

Kind of Stamp/personalized signature