Curran

Prost back at you. -And a brunette fraulein please. Marius- that is the one that tempted me. Because of the humpback waves, shape, and thinness, I thought Futagoya school (Norisuke) rather than Choshu. Either way, a nice tsuba. The cost of having good hitsuana plugs like those nowaways is nearly what you paid for the tsuba.

Solid silver ko-Mino stuff. c. 1525-1565 Uwe: I enjoyed the image. Be sure to have the owner send that other ko-Mino stuff to us on loan here in Florida.

Same here Brian. I'm well adapted to the heat, but prefer 4 seasons. Texas > Florida for property taxes Texas > Florida for food [ex. Miami] Texas < Florida* for driving. --Man you have some psychos. But we've got the old midwesterners driving slow in the left hand lane with the left turn blinker on for the last 3 miles. Texas < Beaches and fishing. Whether I'd rather be in Florida or Texas sort of depends on the day, but I think I'd pick Texas at the moment. But ultimately think I want 4 seasons. If Bariloche or Mendoza were more accessible [and not in Argentina], I'd live there.

8 years along, and still my favorite thread to visit for a break from the Western Hemisphere.

To keep this on subject, I have never had many direct conversations with Harry, but purchased his Nihonto Koza translations from John Prough and relied heavily on them in my first decade of collecting. John also introduced me to Bob Haynes' Index of Japanese Sword Fittings and Associated Artists shortly after publication. I know Harry probably a lot better than he knows me, through stories shared by John with me. John liked him much. In my own years in this hobby, much of my foundation comes from the efforts of John Prough, Bob Haynes, and Harry Watson.

BaZZa, John Prough was my Jersey City neighbor, friend, and mentor in my early days of collecting. It was unexpected that Sachiko (John's wife) went so suddenly, as the age gap and her athleticism had us believing she would long survive him. John fought his Parkinson's about as valiantly as anyone I've ever seen deal with long term illness. When he passed, many of his and Sachiko's students were with him. Family isn't always blood relations. At the 3 minute mark, some good images of John and Sachiko together:

Grey, I did not see the earlier post and was unaware. Thank you for the information.

Thank you gentlemen. Hurricane Irma has sidelined my hobbies for a few weeks, but I will follow up on both Mr. Yellin's website and the book Turning Point soon.

Patrice, 90% of the time, don't clean. If in doubt, post a picture here for further input.

I disagree with Christian. It is shakudo, though hard to tell if it is ko-kinko or an edo version. It is an interesting shape, so I lean towards Edo. This is one where the proper restorer can do a beautiful job, but it might or might not financially make sense. In its current condition, probably there is not much you should do.

+1 to Allan's reply. __________________ From Arnold's reply, I would agree that it is globalizing. After 2008-2009 Great Recession [Depression in this part of the USA] impact on my family, I sold down over half of my fittings collection- much of it to North America, Japan, and Europe. Since then, I have slowly tightened some more but now am only selling on a 1:1 whenever I take something in. When I do sell any fitting above the $1000 mark in the last 2 years since operating on a 1:1 neutral buoyancy, it almost always goes international and increasingly to countries with which I have not dealt prior to 3 or 4 years ago.

Jean- Profound. I will parry, and riposte: http://www.weathernerds.org/tc_guidance/images/AL11_2017090412_ECENS.png?8695221 Class 4<->5 is no fun.

I think I want to live in Ed's house. I'm ready to give up "Beach Paradise" minimalist living, and have tansu envy.

Yep. Open up some Chateau Clinet to go with it. We see a lot of sellers now crosslist on ebay. I don't mean the arbitragers that put on a 100% or greater premium. With export of fittings not being much of a problem, I expect eventually someone will profit from a service helping them to list internationally on eBay or elsewhere. I bought a Saotome tsuba the other month, with some shilling pushing me up to the edge of my limit. Then added fees and such resulted in it being about +20% of what I had expected. It is fun to windowshop Yahoo!Japan, but it isn't much of a place for bargains anymore- ie. like any neighborhood that has gentrified a bit too much, whereas I find myself cycling back to eBay after having given up on it for a few years.

The +8% tax. That relatively new tax [created, delayed, now in effect] is a grind too. Even at the current fair exchange rate, I've been grumping about the shills. Now add +8% to the price of the final.

Agreeing with Pete and Brian. I thought Kyo-shoami of a design I don't remember seeing before.

What Steve said +1 He hit most of the early guys that came to mind, including Umetada Myoju

Grev, Let me know when the new version is available. A major professional obligation had most of my mental space. Now that it is past- I'm catching up on several months of "To Do List" and reading.

I don't think I can help at this time. In the first pass, the closest I came up with is a Nara guy. Seeing the workmanship would help, but I cannot do more until next week.

that might be difficult. If you can provide a bit more info towards what you mean, maybe we will help.

Utsushi of a famous suriage sword. edit: Sir Singer beat me by a few seconds. Slow on the buzzer, Trebek!

Matt- Welcome to the Deep Dive. Yes, many many many things to indicate when and where it was made. There is more information present than can be found in a complete set of fingerprints. Many unsigned blades can be attributed to specific schools and even specific makers at specific times. I have migrated to mostly just collecting fittings. Hopefully some others can get you further along the road to understanding what you have. A false signature doesn't mean much. It can still be a very good blade that a merchant simply wanted to add a name. Thus some people remove signatures nearly as easily as others added them. I never have, so will leave it to others to discuss with you. For starters, try and hook up with one of the better recommended collectors in Texas.

Hi Jussi, I think you are confusing the Texan [Texan, first name please- as per forum rules]. We will try to help. The signature on your sword claims to be made by the smith to which Jussi linked. Please compare the signature very closely for discrepancy, including direction of small strokes and question how identical they are. Not everything signed Van Gogh is a Van Gogh. Yet at quick glance it looks like a nice blade that someone might have 'upped' with a big name signature. It happened ALOT, especially during the late 1800s.

Is there any recommended board or forum for learning about Japanese pottery? I come at this from knowing a good bit about korean, but very little about Japanese regions and styles. My tastes seem to be limited to certain historical and modern schools. I can photograph an example given to me in Japan in 1989. It might take a few days. A few years ago I was very much struck by a modern potter's work and tracked down some pages with notes on his work. He seems to have shifted styles to a bit more experimental-playful, and I don't like his more recent work. To this day I regret not buying one of his earlier bowls, having been outbid. Thinking again on that bowl, I decided that I should learn a bit more in this area. I would appreciate anyone pointing me in the right direction to self educate.

Still seeing "Nobuiye".