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carlitobrigante

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Posts posted by carlitobrigante

  1. thanks for the replies Gents.

     

    I haven't received the item yet and so will post more pics once i have it.

     

    I had some doubts over the fittings myself, but at the price i paid it was good value just for a signed Wak in Shirasaya, any genuine fittings would just be a bonus.

     

    Once I post better pics I would be really grateful if someone can then help with correcting the translation of the sayagaki.

    • Like 5
  2. So I thought i would share with you all my recent purchases. Some of you may have this one up for auction recently, and after some haggling with the seller i feel i got it for a good price.

     

    It is a nice older wakizashi in wartime ww2 mounts. It was described as naval in origin, and attempts to trace any detail on the former owner Mr 'Komatsu Kotaro' has so far turned up blank.

     

    Signed Kanemichi

    • blade length:428 mm
    • motohaba:27.5mm motokasane:6mm
    • sakihaba:21.5mm sakikasane:4mm

     

    The shirasaya has a fascinating (for me!) wartime inscription which i have so far had tentatively had translated as:

     

      修理固成の神勅?? 皇運扶翼之血誓 小松恒太郎

     

      Japanese oracle to repair the national land injured by the war and strengthen the foundation.

       the blood oath of supporting imperial court  the sword owner KOMATSU KOTARO

     

      天壌??尊皇攘夷 大いなる悲願に生きて天地と極みなき代を拝みまつる  

     

     heaven and earth ?? Imperialism and exclusionism    

     I (KOTARO) do at the risk of my life for great earnest desire and bend the knee to Empire of Japan uniting with Japanese gods of heaven

     

    Interested in peoples comments. It has no papers, so i am treating it as gimei, but the mei is almost identical with another wakizashi i have found that does have papers and is attributed to the same smith.

     

    Regardless of whether the blade is original, i just think the whole package is fascinating.

     

     

     

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  3. Good day all,

     

    After collecting a couple of interesting Wakizashi & Tanto, i wanted to add a few nice Tsuba to my humble collection.

     

    For first purchase I picked up this Tsuba with boxed with papers for just under $300. The style appealed to me,  and the fact it was signed with papers was an unexpected bonus, as i expected higher costs for even a lower grade papered example. All the gold inlay seems to be intact. 

     

    How did i do? Did i overpay? It is signed 'Echizen jyu Kinai saku'. I have yet to get a full translation of the certificate.

     

    It is not a high end piece i am sure, and i doubt it is particularly old (late 19th / early 20th century?)  but would like to hear any thoughts from you about the piece, and the pricing. The pricing for Tsuba collecting seems to vary massively, and i am finding it abit of a minefield!

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    • Like 1
  4. I saw this on ebay. The seller has quite alot of cheaper wakizashi. Bit unfair on the seller, as he put clear pics showing this defect on the listing.

     

    If you ended up getting this item for $300 then that is a very fair price imo even with the crack in the nakago. It is still better than most collectors very first purchase of Nihonto (mine was a fake type 95 NCO sword for about the same amount!), and the flaw would not be visable when the blade is mounted, and as you wont hopefully be cutting with the sword it shouldn't be a problem.

     

    What can you really expect for $300? It is still a decent item for early study, and it shouldnt be too difficult to sell it on for the same amount. It will cost you a chunk of that amount just in posting the item back.

     

    I am an amateur compared to others on this forum, but imo if $300 is the budget then you wont get better than this, certainly not with the lottery that is ebay. Any item at this price range will almost certainly have flaws. 

    • Like 2
  5. Go to the sword buyers guide website (sbg), great site with a wealth of info on good modern katanas.

     

    With your price range you would be able to get an excellant modern made katana. Most are made in china now for cost reasons and none whatsoever are made in Japan if i understand their laws correctly. For a $1000 you would have a lovely piece, mostly made by hand, that would look fantastic on a wall, would be a lethal weapon, and would cut through targets with ease if you ever fancied practicing with it.

     

    This site is dedicated to true nihonto pieces, which have more in common with works of art than modern production katanas made elsewhere. With your price range you would have difficulty finding a nice condition nihonto as i am finding out!. If you were willing to have a blade in shirasaya only, or prepared to have a smaller wakizashi or tanto instead of a katana, you might have better luck finding something in acceptable condition.

     

    Good luck with your hunt. Paul Chen blades are a safe bet and you would be able to get one of their higher end pieces with the money you have available.

     

    If however your interest lies with authentic, historical pieces of culturally significant art that is nihonto, then i suggest spending some of your budget on books and doing some research. I was in exactly your position a few years back and despite many books later im still a complete novice.

     

    I cant help feeling that if you want to buy just a single katana for display, then a modern made non-nihonto katana from a chinese or an american smith is the way to go. The sbg site i linked you to actually sell their own katana for about less than half of your budget, and have real clay tempered blades made from super tough T-10 steel that have wonderfull hamons (temper lines) and good quality fittings.

     

    Good luck with your hunt

     

    Adam Hart

  6. Im a complete novice at nihonto, and my only expierience other than books and online reading is a single shinto era o-tanto ive held.

     

    Saying that, even to me that nakago looks definately off and nothing like ive seen before on a nihonto piece.

     

    Saying that, depending on the price this could still be an excellant buy. A work of this quality looks like something from one of the top american smiths. I understand they normally clay temper a mono-steel blade and rarely use tamahagane, which would account for the lack of any visible hada.

     

    That hamon is beutifull and its a wonderfull looking sword....if it wasnt for the very dodgy nakago id be drooling over the pics of that hamon right now.

     

    Ken i see you havent responded to this thread in a while and i hope you havent taken offence at some of the replys, i think many here are very eager to get to the bottom of this and help you as much as possible. Any pics of any hada would go a long way, plus the full description that the seller gave you would also help.

     

    Personally, if you paid more than $2000-3000 for this id take it straight to a proffesional for confirmation, and if it appears to be what it seems then id go back to the seller for an explanation.

     

    Adam H

  7. Im curious. I also collect kukri and ive noticed these days that prices seem to much more than they used to be...so wondered whether nihonto has gone the same way.

     

    Im sure many on this forum have been collecting for many years. Were nihonto available and alot cheaper back in the 70's / 80's? Was it alot harder to getyour hands on them as there was no ebay etc but were they dirt cheap compared to what we pay today?

     

    im seeing crappy machine made gunto going for $1000 on ebay (im a militaria collector mostly and new to nihonto, and wanted an example for my collection but not at those prices!) when im sure a while back you could get a nice piece for that amount.

     

    Did any of you get any major bargains back then? i bet there were quite a few ignorant antique dealers who didnt know what they really had. Is the collecting community alot bigger now than it was say 20 years ago? are blades alot more abundant nowadays or are they starting to be withere away by people hoarding them in collections?

     

    wish id caught this 'nihonto' bug 10-20 years ago! im interested also in when the prices started to jump if they did at all. im guessing they shot up in the mid ninetys?

     

    Regards

     

    Adam

  8. Hi all. hope everyone is well.

     

    Ive heard it mentioned a few times in various places and forums that alot of UK nihonto collectors / sellers and pieces have used acid etching on the blades. Presumably to bring out the hada and hamon on pieces in old polish, or poor polish to save money?

     

    Why would any serious collector do this? surely a piece that has had acid poured all over it is easy to spot, difficult to rectify and will put serious collectors off?

     

    or is it something thats not easily noticable and you need to be wary about when buying pieces from the uk? i take it that its something that seriously de-values a blade? why is this so common in the Uk and not elsewhere, or have I been told a load of dogs danglys?

     

    apologies for all the questions, any advice welcome as i will be buying most of my future collection from the uk as i just dont think i could ever stomach buying a piece abroad and taking the risk of transporting it here (espiecially now with the uk sword ban, can you imagine some dumb customs official destroying my valuable nihonto as it looked to him just another 'Japanese style sword'!!! - interesting to know how other uk buyers feel about this now the ban has come in)

     

    Regards

     

    Adam

  9. Hi there. i was only previously a collector of production made swords (paul chen etc) but have always had a fondness for antiques (kukri's and dha swords are my other weakness) so have made the leap into the fabulous but complex world of nihonto. I asked for opinions on this piece i recently aquired from a very nice chap throughy ebay, on other sites but didnt get much response (after id posted the newer better pics)

     

    I still new to this so apologies if my terminology is wrong. The length is 17 inches in total from tang to tip. It has a fanastic hada in what ive matched up in a book to be in a style called 'mokume' (tree grain tight). The hamon appears a simple straight suguha (sp?) pattern at first but on closer inspection it has constant small undulations which seem to make it more a komidare (sp?) pattern?

     

    Id say its in 80-90% polish. There are very tiny parts of the back of the blade where the grains are slightly open and you can see the core metal coming through so another polish is probably out of the question.

     

    Im really interested in what you think. The tanto has a hira zukuri profile. Does this mean its likley not to be a shortened kat / wak? (i.e werent there many katanas or wakizashi's made in hira zukuri?). Paid £350 ($700). I have no idea of age and its unsigned, ill try and get better pics of the tang if it will help you give me any idea of a likely age of the piece. Shirasaya is WW2 it seems but blade was sold as possibly shinto era?

     

    (p.s - any other british posters here. theres an militaria antique fair at the national motorcylcle museum near where i live and im going in June. Just wondered if anyone knew if there was nihonto there?)

     

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  10. think ill go to the november fair as thats after my birthday on the 6th and also gives me some time to save...

     

    any other sword sellers, clubs in the midlands i should know about..

     

    which museums in the uk display nihontos?

     

    if i find a decent looking gunto blade for sale on ebay or somewhere else can i post details and pics on the site to get advice from you more knowledgable chaps?

  11. wow this stuff is amazing, what a bunch of helpfull people you all are!!

     

    I live literally 5 minutes from the national motorcycle museum and never knew they had an arms sale meeting there!!

     

    How are the vendors there? do they sell for reasonable prices??

     

    I would love to travel down to liverpool although shame theres no good sellers in the midlands.....it sounds like I better drive down one day to see this chap as his shop sounds right up my street...

  12. hi, i am a keen collector of military items from the world wars and i have always held a fascination with japansese weapons...

     

    i want to buy a ww2 Japanese gunto. I will probably only be able to afford a production piece but was wondering how much I should pay as a maximum and where are the best places to buy online apart from ebay??

     

    I live in the Uk in the west midlands so if anyone knows of any antique fairs or dealers in the area please let me know...

     

    I also thought genuine nihonto started at £5000+ yet I see items mentioned on this site for sometimes $1-2000 dollars (£500-1000)??

     

    I am trying to get together some reading material on the subject but good books are hard to find and ive only just been able to track down some of amazon which are on their way now..

     

    I am sick of chinese production blades (paul chens etc) and want to make the step up, but just wanted an idea of the money id need for a) a decent production gunto, b) a lower range nihonto and c) the best places to get a ww2 gunto (i see this sites classifieds seems the best place so far for nihontos but dont see any ww2 gunto's listed?)

     

    i appreciate im asking alot here, but any advice will be greatly appreciated..

     

    thanks for your time

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