Utopianarian

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.

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

In case you were wondering what a few of the pics looked like in her add I saved a few of them

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.

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

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

Thank you Ray

Thank you

Norihisa?

I can only make out the last character on this tachi. Looks like Hisa. Any assistance is appreciated. Thank you

Thank you Michael, I will take your advice.

Michael, you might remember a blade posted on this forum by an older gentleman whom went by the handle of The Virginian. His name was George if I remember. His blade was a captured WW2 bring back from his father that turned out to be an Ichimonji Munetada. Verified courtesy of Darcy whom extended his kindness along with Ted and carried the sword to Japan to authenticate it. The blade did have some issues and he hesitated to have it polished due to issues. I messaged him a substantial cash offer which others according to Him did as well. He declined my offer at that time which means he must have declined offers as high as $30,000. There were just too many uncertainties on that blade as valuable as the blade was. The cost of restoring the blade plus the cost of the best polisher in Japan plus papers and the wait and hassle would have put it to much higher price for it which would have been a large gamble. Sometimes an already papered blade is the way to go in certain circumstances

Thank you gentlemen. Much helpful information to digest and more to research on this. I would be very happy with an ubu or longer tachi than the shorter katanas presently being offered but nice nonetheless. However I don’t think I would spend well above six figures for one. I am far from wealthy or have the means to stretch it that far. If there are any out there by chance what is the asking price or any leads on one. Would sellers negotiate price. I would imagine there are others out there with much deeper pockets to obtain the highest quality examples. The collecting community or buyers out there are I would think not as large as say Masterwork paintings or ww2 memorabilia. Would the demand for such a blade be high or command close to asking price for top shelf Awataguchi pieces dealing with the seller directly versus auction. Cash for one not “On hold “ as you routinely see on AOI Japan, which I would assume the buyer is on some kind of installment agreement or contingency plan.

A lot of interesting points to think about. Yes I think the length of the nagasa had a factor for the pricing of an Awataguchi within reach. Also very interesting of Crane leg skin quite exotic material utilized in the saya which I never heard of (I’m sure there will probably be some law enacted soon to protect Cranes). Marcus also states the fuchi he believes is not a genuine signature which is something to take into account as far as pricing and bundle price of the fittings. Goto school menuki which is nice. Side note: Regarding tax money being utilized to buy this blade. Yes that is partially true. The hospital was partially subsidized by the Government during the epidemic. I paid my fair share of taxes as well. Over $90,000 worth. At least it would be for a good cause “Awataguchi sword” Not $10,000,000 of tax dollars for transgender studies for some 3rd World Country University that hates us courtesy of brilliant Politicians. Yes the thought of sending the blade off for higher papers to Japan does make me nervous and I don’t know if I could handle that. Too many bad thoughts would cross my mind of what could happen. I wish I could attend the SF show I would think Fred organized the show and probably could see it first hand. Of course I will be at the Hospital or Oncall. I live there. My kids don’t even know me and I feel institutionalized. The rare times I am at my home I feel I am a guest and don’t feel like I live there and don’t know how to act or function outside of the hospital. I am sure some of you probably understand what I am talking about if your life is work. My life is at work by necessity. I do however have my “Work Wives” the nurses!!😉

With my wife it’s not so much we can’t afford it. It’s an ongoing control issue. Too much to get into it. Btw my wife is Asian. Nothing wrong with that. I always had a weakness of Asian women and very fond of them. I work for a large University Hospital in Southern California and getting retention bonus checks that were substantial to keep the medical staff from leaving during the Covid epidemic and getting bonus checks payable over 3 years with the largest most substantial one coming up. I kept putting it into physical gold but an antiquity of such rare significance such as this blade obviously is I think a wise investment. You all probably heard of that investment company that is taking share holders in rare world class artwork paintings that are outperforming the stock market and Blue chip stocks. The reason I am asking about buying it besides the wife problem which is an obstacle in itself is not an affordability problem but if in the future if I submit the blade for Tokubetsu Juyo what is the risk involved if for some reason it is attributed to a lesser school or lower level smith but higher level quality of a lesser school. It definitely has the classic characteristics of Awataguchi which seems almost certain but… I have confidence in the Juyo determination. I wouldn’t mind if a sideways attribution could happen but I’ve read stories on this board where other lesser attributions have happened especially on unsigned works.

The price doesn’t seem too bad for what the blade is. I don’t know. I need to give some time to really think about this one. I’ve been watching for an Awataguchi to turn up which seems not that often. Fred is widely recognized and greatly respected. My wife will kill me. Please talk me out of it. https://nihonto.com/1-2-23/

Come on guys!! Drink the CoolAide!!

Very well spoken and agree with that philosophy

I agree with that. I have many blades as well with the like or study pieces if you will. But investing $3000-$4000 for polish. I guess depends

I saw this online not too long ago. I don’t want to name drop or offend anybody but this was a freshly polished blade requested by a customer by an unnamed Togishi. I believe it was a suriage Muromachi period katana in very bad condition but the customer was insistent despite advice of Togishi. When is a blade too far gone to be seen as an object of beauty or historical significance or money not matter. Maybe Beauty in the eye of the beholder, perspective or lack of knowledge. Here are pictures that were posted online. The owner seemed happy as a clam and proud of the blade. I was confused about that. Am I missing something. Maybe happiness and content of the owner is what is important. What are your thoughts. Here are two pics of the post. If this happens to be a board members sword I mean no offense

I thought this blade posted by a board member here had an interesting story to tell https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/36449-grass-writing-oh-boy/

Agree, thank you Alex

Thank you Thomas

Another pic of nakago. I am pretty certain this is takanoha pattern. Could I be mistaken.

The boshi looks like a continuation as the same pattern as the hamon. Hard to tell grain pattern in shinogi-ji. The grain in the hada looks very tight unable to tell. In the state the polish is in right now it appears like no pattern of graining or cannot see mokume or masame. Could be very tight graining that doesn’t show until after polish. I’ve studied it under many light sources and unfortunately cannot make it out. Just looks like at some point somebody made a pass at it with some kind of light abrasive or fine grain sandpaper. I agree Bizen doesn’t quite fit especially with takanoha on the bottom of the nakago that is well established patina over top of it. I agree the hamon does look Bizen. Maybe as the hybrid example as you posted from AOI Museum. I am stumped and maybe might be some obscure offshoot during Shinto or late Muromachi era. Of course I’ve tried to see any utsuri but not any areas clear enough. Unable to make out any activity within the hamon, only the outline of it. Cannot visualize the noi- guchi line due to bad state of polish