0Takeda0

As someone new to nihonto collecting, this has really bothered me. Even before I discovered nmb, I was suspicious of some dealers with brand new looking blades, but often they also sell what seem to be a mix of genuine swords as well, particularly komonjo. The new swords without habaki from komonjo are definitely sketchy, but some of their listings seem pretty convincing to me. I read on here some of their blades have even papered, but most are gimei. I don't know enough to be comfortable bidding on anything from these eBay dealers, regardless.

Thanks for the help. I'll see if I can't get better pictures after using real uchiko, for now I will just keep the blade oiled

How much did you spend?

I've been weary of using my Hanwei 'uchiko', but that's all I have on hand at the moment. I'll wait until I have real uchiko before I do any more. I have it oiled, and have used a little powder on it already. Thanks for the help

The boshi looks in between Jizo and modarekomi from what I see. I am going to see if I can see it better after adding more uchiko powder.

Exactly. The blade looks as old as Muromachi, but the nakago looks no older than 80-150 years imho (or like it may have been tampered with that long ago). The yakidashi looks like it could be koshiba (though I can barely see it), and it is sharp at the ha-machi, which would suggest an older blade. As someone younger than 20, I don't have the years of experience to know for certain. From the four showato, and at least one gendaito I have handled before, the yasurimei/file markings are deeper on the other gendai blades I've handle, and the rust is a little darker on this sword than the other gendai swords I have seen in person. Though, there is some red pitting spots on the nakago, like moisture got trapped in the handle, which may be why it looks the way it does. Also, in my opinion, the blade's overall shape and hamon look like they could be older bizen, but the kissaki shape doesn't look like a lot of the bizen blades I see online, I don't really know how much that matters though. As far as the boshi, it's hard to make out, but it looks a little wavy. I will get pictures of the boshi, but my phone camera probably won't show it well enough. The upper portion of the Monouchi to the kissaki is covered with scratches from use. As for the drawing, it is a cropped image of another sword, the hamon in the drawing is very accurate to what the pattern on the edge looks like in person. Even though it's a mumei, could it be worth sending to a polisher?

I have been using very little uchiko and choji oil I used uchiko after I took pictures as to not make the steel patterns harder to see. One of the last owners touched the blade a lot with their bare fingers without cleaning afterwards, you may see the fingerprints in the photos. I also have slabs of horn

The scabbard looks nice. Does it still have a habaki or any other parts?

I see a lot of the parts of the hamon look a lot like this. You may be able to see it a little in the photos. What's odd to me is that the blade looks old, but the nakago shape and rust color is more indicative of a newer sword. I can't see the boshi or yakidashi very well, but both seem wavy, which of I remember would also be more typical in an older sword. I'm open to any opinions.

I'm not sure exactly what to call the hamon other than midare, it has shape similar to the diagrams, and tobi-yaki. The hamon is not very wide on most of the blade, so toran might not be the right word

Far away, it is hard to see the details in the hamon. In person, none of it that I can see looks like suguha

A few close ups:

The hamon seems to be mostly toran, midare, and gunome. There might be a little bit of notare in the Monouchi area. It has a robust Iori-mune.