jlawson

For top quality items the market is very strong in my opinion. I don't see much weakening at all, unlike swords. For US collectors that surge of the dollar against the Yen has resulted (at least for me) in some great buys lately. Finding the best quality items though are very difficult to find and illustrates Curran's comment.

Had the same issue FYI. Held up for 7 days but finally got it today. I hate the black hole that it goes into where there are no status updates online for several days. Makes me itchy that something has gone wrong every time.

I have to also agree and Ford you should post a photo of the mimi if you have a chance, it is really great. I think it looks so different with the textured plugs as well and applaud you for that choice, it made a huge difference. I thought it was fantastic before but I guess it it fantastic + now. Best of luck on the competition as this one is a bit of a game changer and think it will raise many eyebrows. I think you have a winner there.

Chris yes my comments were more geared to the oddball results I have seen and heard of lately so a bit off topic but in reply to Currans. I am not sure that bringing it to the NBTHK-AB would have much effect unfortunately. I don't get the feeling that the NBTHK-AB is connected to the NBTHK in a meaningful way so that they could bring up items like this (my opinion). It is kind of funny/sad because at Shinsa's here with the NTHK I have been able to talk to a judge on more than one occasion and discussed more specific attributions and had that info corrected on a paper. So Maybe the problem is access to or feeling comfortable enough to discuss with a shinsa judge.

Likely not, its easier to just complain about it from afar...... :-) In all seriousness that is really a concern for me and there are several reasons I personally have not. 1. It is extremely difficult for me to consider myself an expert of such magnitude that I can argue with an organization like the NBTHK. I can most certainly disagree (and sometimes do) but I also recognize that when I submit something for Shinsa I am paying for THEIR opinion not paying for them to confirm mine. 2. The concept of not knowing what you don't know. Even with hundreds of books in my library, the NBTHK has access to information I will never have and more collective knowledge that I possess. Right or wrong on their opinions the simple fact remains that they have a lot of information to base their opinion on. Whether or not they use all of it when making a judgement it is a different story. 3. I do fear a bit of reciprocity when I submit additional items that they may be treated differently if I were to "complain too much" on previous items. Perhaps an irrational fear but it is certainly there for me. 4. Today there is not a great method/process for this feedback loop. Even if one felt comfortable to challenge or thought they had a better answer. 5. The NBTHK judges are a bit transient and the committee this month is likely different than it was a year ago etc. People have different opinions and that is just a fact. Look at some of the discussions we have here. There are also varying degrees of "experts". Unfortunately I have had the experience of getting a judgement I didn't agree with and simply waiting a bit and re-submitting to get the desired result. If there were hard and fast rules this would never happen but because these are opinions it happens every day.

A better than average Choshu tsuba. Typically you see these with the Chinese landscape design but having gold highlights is a-typical for these. Choshu had 12 separate families/schools with hundreds of smiths. Kiyotaka was a better than average smith. Here is a published work in soft metal (quite rare BTW) and displays great skill. Kiyotaka Tsuba

I've also experienced some very oddball results as of late with attributions on mumei items. No so much with Higo as I don't focus much there but with some other schools.

I've sent the confirmation email out to everyone on this translation. If for some reason you did not get the email please send me a PM with your email address etc and let me know.

Kind of depends on why you are wanting a paper on it. Would you be happy with a paper that just states Higo? That is a possibility with Shinsa teams especially a "show based" shinsa, in my opinion. Sending it to Japan to go through a much more formal and longer evaluation period may result in you getting a paper that is much more specific however you also run the risk of just getting Higo. So the question is what is the upside of getting a paper to a generic school vs a specific attribution. Another consideration is are you wanting to sell it or keep it? All things that need to be thought of.

I am sure on the overall percentages it is low but I can say that for the last few years the number has been rising. Also with the exchange rate like it was last year there is quite a bit of money getting exchanged from those visitors. I just don't really understand moving it a full month later regardless.

I have also been told the same dates. Quite a mistake if you ask me as many US collectors will have a rough time getting away the weekend before Thanksgiving. Hadn't heard about a taikai.

Thats correct, however there is a bunch of information there that is very valuable regardless of the photos. I know there is also a digital version of the book (in Japanese) and photos that I have seen as well floating around.

Thanks everyone for pitching in here. Will leave this up till Friday and then send everyone an email for confirmation with numbers and costs etc. We've had a pretty good turnout but certainly could use a few more to help get this translation done. Thanks again for everyone's help.

Not sure what happened to this post as the original post had all of the detail about the translation etc but seems to be missing. Sent a PM to Brian already so will see.

I see your meaning now and I also agree. It will never be as good as it is now, and now isn't as good as it was before.

Sorry to disagree but your statement isn't fact. These are definitely not the good old days in regards to sword availability, price, and trying to make a living buying and selling them for the folks that have that as a vocation.

I am fortunate enough to have another career and this is all just play money for me in my hobby however for those who this is their vocation I can completely understand the escalation of prices for everything but their merchandise and the difficulty in their situation. Swords have gone down in value while the costs and hassle have risen. Additionally the merchandise is getting harder to find and the collectors are getting pickier and more educated. With the rising costs also come the costs of restoration which used to be a good gamble on a great sword, now not so much. If you restore something you better love it because more often than not you are going to be buried in it cost-wise. Remember the good old days of Mark Wahlberg bringing trash cans full of swords to shows and their being incredible swords there and the costs of getting it restored and making a profit when you wanted to move it along? Those days are gone. Now the market is tougher. All is not doom and gloom though if you are a collector. Great deals can be had if you have the cash A great example of this was seen last weekend when a Juyo Ichimonji blade sat unsold on Fred Weisberg's table for 35k. That sword (not long ago) would have brought 50-75k.

Here is another copy of the book as well located on another site http://www.shibuiswords.com/choshutsubaBK.html

Markus Sesko is working on a private translation for a few of us for the Choshu No Tsuba book by Murakami. This is a great book with the school information and lots of info on the lineages of this very large school. Here is a copy of the book also from Grey's site http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/books/b639-choshu-no-tsuba-murakami If you are interested in getting a copy of this translation and helping to support the translation please reply here or PM me and I will add you to the list. If you attended the NBTHK lecture in Tampa you will recognize several of these pieces as from my collection and if you signed up there I already have you on the list. We are hoping to get enough people to put the translation for $50 but that requires a certain number to join the effort as you know. Thanks.

Marius, I am not aware of any new publications but rather I was referring to many of the discussions we have here on NMB and elsewhere online. In regards to it being copper vs Yamagane I am relatively sure that if one wanted they could patinate copper to look like anything you want it to (if you spent the right amount of time). That deeper color can be achieved by performing multiple processes of what we did but time was a factor and we made some choices on it. Also yes the Chinese fakes are getting better. I have to wonder if part of the reason they are getting better is because we are "educating" them as to why their stuff looks fake. It is a scary world out there for collectors and will continue to get worse.

Brian it also reminds me of Umetada work as well. Very unusual. Someone spent a lot of time with the inlay, for sure.

I had toyed with the idea of resurrecting a show in Texas but after looking more closely at the costs and coordination totally agree Chris that the hobby won't support more than 3 shows annualy very well right now (maybe never). Also agree with your comments about having other activities but in case of Tampa for example, there were multiple activities including archery, lectures etc but it was the same old folks attending the show. Without bringing in different people what happens is just a dealer swap where merchandise is regurgitated from person to person, and show to show.

Mr. Ko-Kinko strikes again...... :-)

Copper but a bit abused. Looks to me goto-esque although not goto of course. Very hard to tell from the photos but could be sanmai construction etc, as I have seen similar in the past. Not much else I can offer based on the photos presented.

Although it is easy to criticize the work of others I have to wonder how much advertising was done for this show to the local public this year. Perhaps there was a lot but, it sure seemed like there was not very many people coming in from the outside this year as compared to prior. (Just my view though) However outside folks do not guarantee sales but it does raise awareness of the hobby and hopefully we can convert one or two of them into students and collectors one day.