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Utopianarian

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Everything posted by Utopianarian

  1. Ken, if I am not mistaken that ww2 era blade is still for sale. Sovereign Antiques has a few for sale. My shipment is now flying somewhere over the GB Channel islands. John, definitely will post lots of pics when I receive. Blade however is badly in need of polish from what I could see. I can no longer review pics in add as the listing is now removed after sale. Always risk with old corroded blades. This one is no exception. I will keep you posted
  2. John, I just posted one pic showing sugata. There were over 30 pics I reviewed. Nagasa 78cm ubu. I saw enough in pics to pull the trigger on this one. I have made quite a few brave (dumb) purchases in the past. I am currently working on trying to unmaster the art of Brave purchases lol cheers
  3. First time buying from UK from this site. Anyways this tachi looks like promising buy. Hopefully shipping from there to US makes it in one piece. Here is a picture of sugata shape looks good. Fittings were Gunto with civilian tsuba. Gunto saya had two mounted hangers on it.
  4. I couldn’t agree more Bruce. Maybe if I told my wife the next sword I buy comes in a Louis Vuitton sword bag I will have much success:)
  5. Hey Bruce, yes agree a market correction seems likely. What a better buying opportunity it seems. Yes this one the seller said google translate could not make out the mei and elaborated saying it adds to the mystery of the sword. So it somewhat went under the radar not listing as a Mantetsu piece.
  6. It appears the prices of Mantetsu Gunto prices have trended down significantly especially since before the Pandemic. I just saw one just yesterday auction off on eBay for $1400. These used to go for $3,800 just a few years ago. The one just auctioned was a Mantetsu forged spring of 1941 in half decent original Gunto fittings with blade in decent shape. All matching seppa and parts numbered appeared all original untouched. I am not much into WW2 blades but man what a deal I should have bid higher than $1300 range. Who knows maybe the trend will go lower. I used to think $2000 was a decent deal. Now what? I think I will keep an eye out for a Mantetsu or at least an exceptional example is out there for a good bargain now
  7. Hello, does this work appear to be Oei Bizen work or some kind of later Soshu influenced school.
  8. Jussi, thank you for sharing your knowledge. Your research and posts are valuable information to myself and the board as well. We are blessed to have you here on the board. Sincerely, George
  9. Asking the Board to educate me if this Smith actually existed or just fantasy. I saw a post of a Kamakura blade which I assume is a Commemorative to the spirit of the Smith Shinsoku. Is there any solid proof or just unicorns and pixie dust dreams of any surviving blades. Hawley rates him 5000 but I know how reliable Hawley can be and take that with a grain of salt. Respond with your thoughts be it fantasy or reality on this Legendary Smith
  10. I am definitely satisfied for what it is and going to enjoy it. At some point in the future will go thru the process of papering the blade hopefully I will get it done before I die and leave it to my children
  11. I wanted to share some updated pictures with you. Wanted to know your thoughts on the mei and the blade. Signed katana mei: Bitchu kuni junin Hidetsugu? The last character hard to interpret.
  12. When I first found this blade it was in bad shape with a broken kissaki. Jimmy working his magic reshaped the kissaki. There was enough material left to rework kissaki . It turned out beautiful!! Here are pics of broken tip Kissaki before restoration. Also Brian Tschernega did amazing work with Shirasaya and Gold two piece Habaki.
  13. After a wait that seemed like eternity I just picked up my Aoe blade. Polished by Jimmy Hayashi and definitely worth the long wait. My baby is home!! Here are a few quick pictures. Will post better ones soon. Looks amazing in hand. Hard to capture the beauty in pics. The boshi is simply breath taking. Jimmy is a Gift from God. Highly recommended!! will post better pictures in the future.
  14. If you noticed somebody made an amateur tsuka since I guess the original fell apart then did an amateur Re wrap. It was a mix of Gunto and civilian fittings. Wouldn’t you agree it doesn’t look like a blade from 1600s as the listing stated
  15. In case you were wondering what a few of the pics looked like in her add I saved a few of them
  16. I recommend not buying from sword dealers on eBay. You generally pay for what you get. I especially don’t buy from eBay dealers out of Japan unless papered blade. Once again you pay for what you get. I do like looking and occasional rare buy on eBay but not so much anymore. I usually buy from small private sellers that are not dealers without a history of selling swords. I hit the jackpot about 4 years ago with Signed Chu Aoe blade in good shape with Gunto fittings falling apart. It was from some lady down south selling random yard sale items whom sister passed away that was married to a ww2 vet and left it to her. The blade was misrepresented in her add on eBay. I asked her the provenance and whom identified the blade for her. She said it was a sword man whom she brought it to for identification. When I looked at the pictures posted on the eBay which were not good pictures I asked her to send more pictures. I took a gamble on the blade since it looked much different than what the sword was listed and identified as in the add. That add was listed on eBay for months and I would keep searching and must have passed over that listing at least 20 times until I figured I’d look at the pics very closely and it seemed a lot older than a blade from the 1600s as the listing stated and the reflective qualities on the blade in one of the pictures looked like heavy reflective frosted nie. The sugata also looked much older than a blade from 1600s and had a nakago as black as coal with the Ana with rounded weathered edges. I lucked out on that one buy but struck out many times as well. Especially if there were problems with the blade or not listed in the add.
  17. So far 57 watchers on this Old family blade dressed in WW2 Gunto fittings. Only been listed for 1 day so far. Interesting how much attention so early on this blade. The seller is listed out of Reno Nevada and looks to mostly be a seller of WW2 items,German etc.. blade has some interesting features to it. Nice sugata and appears to either be a cut down blade or have that Muromachi era type of nakago. Hard to tell from the pics. Seller posted pics of nakago after request. States blade is 24.65 inches. Not much more info. Anyways thought I would post the link for you guys to look at. Maybe might be an early blade cut down then nakago finished after suriage or just might be a kodachi ubu mumei blade from Muromachi https://www.ebay.com...r=artemis&media=COPY
  18. You will not find any “Diamonds in the rough” or out of the woodwork finds thru eBay Seller Komonjo. The blades passed thru many hands in Japan and passed off to the Western market. They know exactly what they are selling. Read the descriptions very carefully. It’s what’s not in the description that is very telling
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