drbvac

Now that I see the same Muramasa on Yahoo auction for sale on his site for 100G I can see there are other problems than the prices

http://stores.ebay.com/Japanese-Antique ... 7675.l2563 Anyone ever deal with this outfit - seem to carry a lot of nihonto related items but they are often not listed under the normal categories

Looks pretty nice from here - mind I am a long piece away - do you have any closer pictures of the nakago - it looks old but it also looks like it has varnish or oil on it. Any signature - measurements ? Is it for sale or do you already have it >

It is probably what it says, although it looks as if an arsenal stamp of some type was removed above the mei on the left side of the nakago - plus the forum usually doesn't comment on listings that are still running on E-bay or anywhere else .

It actually is a waste of a lot of things in addition to a meteorite, like time, effort, thought, listing, describing, etc etc

I don't recall seeing many shortened blades where they cut the sides of the nakago to make it thinner to fit a tsuka, - especially cutting the original mei almost in half in the process I suppose to get the right size it could have been required but one would think if at all possible the mei should be kept intact ?

Easier to mail them to Chris

What percentage of these would be acid etched stainless steel blades vs re-mounted or made at the time traditional nihonto ?

Exactly my thoughts - gimei but then - still not a bad looking blade - if you were going to copy a signature one would think you would at least put one on that went with the school you have used as a model for the blade you forged - or would you not care and only be doing it for use that wouldn't have any idea. This is not a new blade and as I said I have seen worse with real signatures so the idea of "forging" a mei on not a bad blade that doesn't match the type of work done by the smith you have added the name to is a little odd. If you could make a blade that looks like this you would think you could put on a name that would fit - may not be as high a rank as Tadayoshi of course but at least would be more credible fake

I read it as Tadayoshi but not sure and not sure if 2 character MEI so wonder if gimei - I don't like the little chisel marks instead of some straight strokes. Any thoughts on the blade - longish Wakizashi

Happy New Year to all from the east coast of Canada where it's still only 8 pm - close enough - all the best for 2014.

The entire set looks pretty good especially with you saying that you have been seeing a lot of them lately !!! Where have they all been .??

There is nothing in the listing that is incorrect or looking like it was trying to deceive. I bought one in Civilian mounts and the stamp had been filled in with wax mixed with dirt/rust and it was invisible. Only when I cleaned the nakago with alcohol did the wax dissolve and I was able to see the stamp - that was an attempt to defraud - this is as Brian says - and it is true for EVERY THING listed on E-bay - not just Nihonto = Buyer Beware. That said you may be surprised at the price this finally goes for considering everything and it is worth a certain amount even with the stamp removed = a good toshigi could make that area indistinguishable to the rest .

So its strips of brass like metal with pieces of shell between then in lacquer ? The Fuchi/Koshira almost look like they could have been some sort of Gunto fittings - especially the Koshirae ( without the hole )

Perhaps one of the most famed Kotetsu blades was a fake: that of Kondō Isami, the commander of the late Edo-era patrol force called Shinsengumi. However, this sword was not a Kotetsu, but instead a sword made by the foremost smith of that era (known in Japanese swordmaking history as the shinshin-to era), Minamoto Kiyomaro, and bearing a forged Kotetsu signature made by master signature-faker Hosoda Heijirō.

IS it a police sabre? - many of those were decorative and had a cheap chromed blade from what I recall .

Could you not keep an eye out for a blade of the proper size and not particularly valuable and adjust it to fit the fittings? After all it is they that are the attraction - not the blade itself - I may even have one in the shop that would be close for display purposes

Kyler: I assume that you know what kitae ware are so you know what to look for but in case they are small cracks or grooves where the steel didn't laminate completely when folded at some point during the forging process, They vary in size and depending on where they are they may take away from the flawless appearance but are not fatal flaws. Some on the other hand,if in certain areas or size could be an indication that the entire forging process was a little off and the entire blade could be questionable. IMHO these wouldn't bother me but I like older women and cars so

Uh Ken - by definition not ALL strippers are chemical - have known some pretty nice biological ones as well

NOPE - would use as suggested Isopropyl alcohol first - then uchiko and oil - maybe acetone or lighter fluid if tough but should be done ASAP after they appear

Don't happen to have any pictures??

Very interesting that Morihiro Ogawa is thought of highly enough to be brought in on the project - long way from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. I would think he may feel that quite an honour indeed.

Well it could have been done wartime as the look of the cut down blade resembles an M1 Bayonet - somebody could have just tried to see if they could copy it.