Ray Singer

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/6306-red-lacquer-in-the-bo-hi/ http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/4823-swords-hi-painted-or-lacquered-red/

Sometimes blades are stored in newspaper saya as a temporary, protective measure until a shirasaya can be made or until their koshirae can be cleaned & repaired. Likewise, if someone is trying to remove corrosion non-invasively with oil, bone, ivory, etc it would not necessarily make sense to the return the blade to its old saya that may contain rust or abrasive debris, and a paper saya may be the best short-term solution. I do this myself when finding nice blades in poor condition gunto koshirae. As soon as possible though, a shirasaya will be made and a tsunagi for the koshirae. Blades are not really kept by collectors as truly bare with no protection at all.

Absolutely spectacular sword Jeremiah, congratulations.

Most are in shirasaya or koshirae. There are a few swords in this collection though which are in partial koshirae, such as the original saya only, and need a shirasaya made. Please note that I am still in the process of photographing and uploading these pieces to my website. Best regards, Ray

Amazing, I never would have caught that. Appreciated seeing this Steve.

Unfortunately nothing in gunto koshirae. I would have let you know first

Hi Jean-Pierre, Thank you for the kind words. I am presently listing swords from five collections. Each individual (owner) has different tolerance for structured payments. Is the case of this specific collection, the owner is looking to sell in a single payment for each item. He also does not have PayPal and has requested receiving a money order, cashier's check, etc (which is unique among those individual I consign for, with others receiving payments via PayPal). In every case, payment for the consigned purchase goes directly to the owner. Best regards, Ray

This past weekend I took in a large collection of swords on consignment. I will be posting some of the best pieces here for sale in the coming days. This old collection includes no less than 5 Nobukuni tanto & wakizashi (Nambokucho through Oei), a signed Mino Kanetsune katana, long Kozori Iesuke katana, a Fujishima shobu-zukuri wakizashi, Sengo katana in koshirae, Bizen Kanemitsu katana in koshirae, a large Shinto katana attributed to sendai Kunikane, an o-suriage blade with old attribution to Unju, and many more. Best regards, Ray Singer raymondsinger@gmail.com

Beautiful work Kirill, thank you for sharing.

The first candidate which comes to mind is 於南紀重國造之 (oite nanki shigekuni tsukuru kore). That is just based on the kanji used ans not a verification of the mwi itself.

George, this is something that you sometimes see in Showa era blades which appear to emulating an ikubi-kissaki. The ko-shinogi will be short in length and the thickness of the blade increases greatly at the ko-shinogi-saki (saki-kasane). So, to answer your friend's question this is a type of ikubi-kissaki with thick saki-kasane.

https://www.aoijapan.com/katana-yasunori/ Excellent smith and nicely curated koshirae. Much to like here.

Appears to be a gunto by 井戸秀俊 (Ito Hidetoshi). http://www.nipponto.co.jp/swords3/KT324551.htm

A few new additions to the gallery.

My feeling is that tsuka is old, and may be original to the blade. I have attached photos of an authentic Munekage (photo credit: legacyswords.com), Best regards, Ray

Manny, I can vaguely see what you are describing. Are you sure that it is within the hamon and not a blemish to the polish itself? Perhaps bring to Tampa for in-hand feedback, if you are planning to attend. Best regards, Ray

Of the swords that were for sale in Tampa, the Masanao was far better than the others and was the one my good friend bought from the seller. The blade had a beautiful hamon with deep, wide ashi.

Another one related to the discussion of changes to hamon over time due to polish. http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/sword10.html

There was a dealer with five Minatogawa blades in koshirae for sale at the last Tampa show around 10k per. I believe that at least 2-3 sold at the asking price.

Great tsuba. This will sell quickly.

Bushu ju Masahisa.

Fujiwara Takada blade. Hoshu Takada ju Fujiwara___ (suriage). I personally would not have concerns about the authenticity of the mei. In absolute contrast to the seller's description though "no openings, no blister and no other forging flaws", this is a long open blister which is the result of a forging flaw. It is a fukure which has opened up and is a flaw which would deter many collectors. It also appears that something has been done to the sword to round off the geometry (amateur restoration effort likely). Where in Florida are you? We have a show coming up in Tampa just over a month from now.

Discussed in Guido's article (which may be the one you are referencing). http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/forum/18-the-honj%C3%B4-masamune/

Ken beat me to it. It does not take long for spots of corrosion to form, especially if you live in a humid place near the ocean as I do.

Eric, are you keeping the blade oiled?