Salvatori Moretto

Just picked this up, it was going for such a relatively low price, mounted in some weird americanized mounting, but something about it just screamed save me Seller didnt have pictures od the nakago originally but sent them to me just an hour before auction close and I didnt have time to have it looked at. Sword hasnt come in yet but I would like to see if you guys could help me figure out what I just got myself into. The picture with the mei I had to alter slightly so the mei could be seen as it was very hard to see. the picture of the other side of the nakago was left un altered to better show better the patina. All lines look crisp, nakago looks well shaped and as if some time went into it, bo-hi looks well done, and I can see where the notches are for the habaki yet it does not have one at the moment. I can also see glimpses of the hamon in areas as well. I'm looking to eventually do a full polish, habaki, and shirasaya on it if it warrants it. I love when I find something like this listed on ebay with a description of "Vintage Antique Sword," means I have a chance at getting it without much bidding competition :D Any and all help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Thanks Kam!

Still in need of more info! Trying to decide to mount in the dragon fittings or in lower cost iai fittings to make this into a user sword. Still no conclusive evidence about this smith in any way, just because it is showa doesn't actually tell me anything about this blade or the smith. I don't think this is a national treasure, I just want to know conclusively who this smith was and what type of work he was known for before I go further with this project in any direction.

PS, open to all reasonable offers, need to get these sold quick to pay bills!

Nope, those I'm sure of Just had my friend Wally Hostetter find the fuchi at the last show in San Fran

Should I just save the tsuba and fuchi for a more deserving piece? Thanks

Recently purchased a showa stamped blade in mismatched civilian mounts and the signature reads Yoshikane, but I haven't been able to find anything about this smith. It came with a reaaaalllly nice signed hand carved brass tsuba in dragon motif with gold inlays that I posted on here trying to find a kashira for now, and what appears to be more of a handachi style saya. It had a completely poor fitting random low grade tsuka thrown on it that was obviously never on the nakago as it wiggles and moves around more than dutch shepherd at chow time. Blade over all looks pretty darn nice I think it may be tamahagane but i'm not sure. So here are the questions: -Anyone run across this smith before? How good was his work known to be? -What's the value of this? It's going to either be sold as it is now, or if it's worth it, I already found the matching fuchi for the tsuba, continue to look for the kashira and make a new tsuka for it. Either way I don't want to under or over charge. -Is it tamahagane? -Should I even consider using the dragon koshirae for this sword? I know those are higher quality and don't want to mount them to a lower quality project potentially. Thanks for any and all help!!!! Sal

For sale are two more from my collection. There is not much on the list of things i know about these besides that they are mumei, almost certainly ubu, and that the blades are in near perfect condition and with no flaws that I have been able to find. The Gendaito is beautiful and hada unique with very nice full dress file marks on the nakago. Again it's mumei, ubu, and there is no arsenal stamp. i think maybe it was a pre-war blade mounted for the war but I can't say for certain it's age; many of you may know more by looking at it. The Tanto looks to be either shinto or shinshinto. Ubu, mumei, and beautifully done. Blade has recent full polish and a lovely turnback. I had a new habaki and buffalo horn fuchi made for this by Wally Hostetter. Saya is all original and in almost perfect condition with beautiful ribbing done in lacquer. Matching Wari-kogai, and what I think is probably a mismatched but beautiful signed kozuka and signed gokatana. Original jabara-maki is still intact. Prices include shipping CONUS fully insured. As I mentioned before I know very little about these, if you know anything that influences the price of these positively or negatively please don't hesitate to let me know! More pictures including views of nakago and better hada pictures can be seen here : https://imageshack.us/a/6H94/1 Gendaito: $3,000 Tanto: $2,700

Hello folks, looking for some help locating the matching kashira for this set. Would like to purchase it for a current mount that I am doing that I would really prefer not to make a buffalo horn kashira for

Ahhhh Wally Hostetter I presume you're talking about? I have used him for cutting polishes on a few of my blades, he's a great guy to work with and never hesitates to take time out of his day to explain different things which is rare in this day Dare I say he's becoming a good friend. I use his polisher for my more expensive blades.

Here is another quark of this blade. My polisher today says yes to it definitely being Japanese made, but he says the grain does not look like anything he has seen, he thinks maybe it was a smiths experimentation with an alloy steel to see what he could get with different steel. Can't wait to show pictures, should have it in hand by this weeks end. Thanks again for all the input! Sal

Yes I was thinking the nakago looks about ww2 patina wise. Not sure if maybe it was just a few years before though. My polisher likes to be anonymous I don't know why as he has some of the best work I have ever seen :D He says he will have more to tell me tomorrow but I thought I would get a general consensus from people here as well.

I apologize in advance if this was not the correct forum to post this in! I have a blade that is just being finished at my polishers. He has informed me that he feels it is traditionally made and well made at that. Blade also has a well executed bo-hi carved and a very nice hamon he says (yes I will be posting updated pictures as soon as it arrives with polish :D) My question is how often and why would a blade like this come to be? I uploaded the only pictures I still have of the blade. Were there many smiths during the war who made blades with bo-hi? Or should I be thinking this is pre war? Thanks for any and all help, I'll post more pics in just a few days when the blade is back in hand Sal'