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According to WAF the sword was up for sale for "between $ 1000 and 2000", so even if Gimei not much is to be lost, for that it doesn't seem to be this heavily abused. Looking forward to the additional pictures! Will be very interesting to see in greater detail. Thanks also for the clarification as to who owns it.

I'm a bit confused. Here you post with location New York. On WAF the location is Indiana. Are you the owner of the sword or the same person as who had posted it on WAF? Or something else?

Just a short follow up, I agreed with Samurai Museum Berlin to display the blade for two more years (until June 2028) in there so that you all have the chance to see it .

With the recent rule by the Supreme Court it became actually even more complicated. Because it allowed certain tariffs, and others not. Especially the ones for steel were mostly "approved". And for some items the steel value is already something you'd have to pay an additional charge that is added to potential other tariffs. And speaking of Tsuba, it is mostly steel (as is a blade). On the other hand, there are possible exempts for antiques and pieces of art .. so depends on which customs tariff number you may use. To put into other words: a nightmare. With tariffs changing on weekly basis (apparently currently not, but who knows..) I fully understand why some simply give up doing this until there are clear rules.

It is not Mr Haynes who forbid on them to be shipped to the US, it is due to tariffs imposed by the president of the US. As a result to this there are hardly any shipping companies which are willing to ship items like this to the US. Especially if an item such as Tsuba is made of steel and there are special additional tariffs for those too, and it depends on where it was made, etc. Too late now anyway, but you could always go there, pick up in person and fly home with it. And someone can easily take a bunch more of those into luggage, if it is being organized. Anyway, did someone win something in this auction?

Thank you. In the meantime I managed to get ahold of better tang pictures. While you already did the translation, I thought I should nevertheless also post them.

I'd highly appreciate assistance in translating the attached signature. The blade itself is rather tired and rust pitted and I was wondering whether it may be worth restoring it. Thanks!

Simply wonderful. Would love to see more of them.

Did they also wanted to look at the tang to see the signature? Or just to see if it is a sword and then done? What do you mean with "Test the metal"?

Welcome to what basically whole Europe had to face all the time anyway, lol. I usually try to get items declared as antiques of more than 100 years of age when shipping, because there is a reduced tax applied to those. I even do this with firearms, even though there is a specific tariff code for them. Never had an issue with this and always saved 10% (because antiques are 10% whereas firearms otherwise would be 20%). Second possibility for you btw could be if you win in this auction then to take a holiday in Italy, pick up the items in person and fly home with them .

Curious, how exactly did you have to show them the blade? Did they allow you to handle the blade in front of them, or did they handle it themselves? And if they handled it themselves, how professional/non-professional was the handling?

Then I'm not surprised they sent back the payment, because it simply was too little.

Did you send them the € 50 payment or a lower payment? According to the website the catalogue is € 15 for Italy € 30 for European Union, USA and Canada and € 50 for Rest of the World

The Italian auction company Czerny's has the Tsuba collection of R. E. Haynes up for an online auction that ends 18th March 2026. Auction catalogue with apparently a total of 267 lots up here: https://www.czernys.com/asta-158/?c=321

No feedback at all. If your blade already is in Japan for Polish anyway and if you can afford it, then submit it (shipping over just for Juyo shinsa is something I personally wouldn't consider). Not much additional hassle, just submission fee and time needed, but at least no extra shipping. At worst it failed, at best it gets papers.

Not educated enough to add to the topic, but just to mention general thoughts: if you show the blade in here first and have it discussed (documented for everyone to be read in a public forum too), if the blade then fails, do you want your blade somewhat "documented to have failed Juyo"? Remember that according to our Western standards for some this would mean that the blade isn't good enough and maybe with that knowledge will value the blade at less than what it deserves. If you are 100% certain you'll be keeping the blade anyway (and that this will not change, even if it fails - you may be disappointed of it afterwards and have a hard time to look at it again) and you'd just be keen to know, then I do see less risk with that. Also, think about what you would do if it does fail. Would you want it to stay in Japan for it to be submitted to Juyo again and again? At least there sometimes were claims that submitting an item a few times may result it somewhen to possibly achieve Juyo, but also no warranty with that. Or do you really want it back immediately afterwards? The fact that your thread initially started with a different blade and you then bring up another blade that you may consider submitting may make it appear as if your wish is mainly to have submitted one blade and for it to pass Juyo, to kind of "have this experience". Is this what you want? Also, why would you want to send it over for Juyo? Because you think it is the best for the blade and that the blade is really something very special that should be documented as Juyo? It is easier if a blade already is in Japan, not much to be lost. If you ship it over for Juyo shinsa, then there is more work, time and money involved, with absolutely no guarantee that it will achieve of why you are doing this.

Fully agree with you that it is just the greedy sellers and the market manipulation with these certificates of knowledgeable people. I can sell you a rare Leonardo Da Vinci painting of a duck for just one million pounds. It clearly states Leonardo on bottom left. However, I do not have any certificates because of the greedy sellers and therefore it is much cheaper than usual. Do we have a deal? Or do you prefer to get someone elses opinion on it? Everyone is up to do with his money as he wants to. If you feel confident enough and trust yourself more than someone elses expertise, then do get the stuff without paperwork.

Bringing this thread up again because ... I saw that sword up again for auction. Now the estimate reads as 18-22,000 USD, with a starting bid of 13,000 USD --> https://live.amoskeagauction.com/lot-details/index/catalog/131/lot/97417/Exceptional-Japanese-Mid-19th-Century-Katana-By-Masazane-with-NBTHK-Certificate And to get back to the original auction listing. If I open up the listing for the same sword from the initial auction which was when this thread had been posted, it display the particular blade as unsold. I therefore do not know as to why you claim it to have been sold at 36k. --> https://live.amoskeagauction.com/lot-details/index/catalog/122/lot/85981/Exceptional-Japanese-Mid-19th-Century-Katana-by-Masazane-with-NBTHK-Certificate

I highly doubt they know on how to take them apart .. Well, maybe someone from Australia can help them with description and taking apart plus identification?

While surfing a firearms auction - my main interest - I noticed that starting with lot 165 until lot 177 there are a little bit more than 20 blades in this auction. Maybe of interest to some that otherwise would not search there. I can't tell much about the auction company since I have not dealt with them in the past, nor do I know anyone there (for being from the other side of the world). https://auctions.militarylane.com.au/#!/auctions/d7c99452-dfd4-4454-a76a-8ea06e1f9ebf?ic=90&page=2

That is fully correct and I bet you are right. Jacques, I do believe you have a great knowledge and are a benefit to this forum for participating. It is only sometimes for the wording that you are using that some of them appear snotty, as well as that it seems if you have made up your mind, there is about zero to change that. For ones like me who has - compared to you - only little knowledge it would be worth much more if you would put down your full arguments and explain with more words as why you think what. That would possibly save some pages in this thread too. So no offenses from my side, just the wish to be able to learn from you in an easier way.

Reading the posts of Jacques in here reminds me quite a lot to a thread of mine, where he was very serious about naming the blade gimei a few timesand pointing out minimal mei differences he claimed ... Well, NBTHK papered it with TH . So don't take his posts too serious if others give it chances, just go and find out if it papers.

Just a very side comment: when comparing against "2 million registered Japanese swords" against J and TJ, keep in mind that not all persons have the money, ambition nor wish to submit blades for shinsa, to NBTHK, etc.. There will be blades that would achieve J, but are not submitted for J - for whichever reason. It is a tad of unrelated to put these numbers in comparison.

Just a very side comment: when comparing against "2 million registered Japanese swords", keep in mind that not all persons have the money, ambition nor wish to submit blades for Juyo shinsa. There will be blades that would achieve Juyo, but are not submitted for Juyo - for whichever reason.

Are you sure this person is Mukansa? Markus Sesko has the following names on his list: Source: https://markussesko.com/2018/08/11/mukansa-ningen-kokuho-list/