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DGARBUTT

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Everything posted by DGARBUTT

  1. This is the date and signature from a katana that I have been given to sell. I have posted the mounts on another thread. I read the signature as Kashu Haruyoshi saku with a date of Eisho 12. I cannot find any reference to this smith. The only Haruyoshi I find using these kanji worked in the late 1600's and I have no reference to his province or a sample of his mei. If anyone has a reference to this smith please let me know. I believe that the smith is either unrecorded or either the date or the mei are fraudulent. Your comments are welcome. I will be listing the sword in the for sale section when I have priced it.
  2. DGARBUTT

    Unusual mounts

    I have attached pictures of mounts that I find unusual. This sword was brought back from Japan after the war and has been in the family since then. The fittings are all copper with a plain nanako ground. The tsuka appears to be leather wrap over leather, no same. The leather wrap has been lacquered black and then red. There are no menuki, instead two knots have been made on each side of the wrap where menuki would normally be placed. The saya is black lacquer with fairly elaborate decoration of an undersea scene with shells and sea life. There are two metal hangers on the saya one similar to a tachi hanger and the other on the side. The hanger on the side slides and appears to have been intentionally made that way, almost like a moveable kurigata. There is no sign that the side hanger it was ever secured to the saya. The tsuba appears to be late Edo of a devil mask. The suriage blade is signed Kashu Haryoshi and date Eisho 12. I cannot find any reference to this smith. I have posted the signature in another thread. I welcome your comments as to the style and age of these mounts. This katana will be for sale shortly.
  3. Chris, You can filter Ebay by location. Click on advanced search. You will see that one of the options enables you to pick the location by country of the item for sale. Dale
  4. You should take the offer as quickly as you can. The two tsuba are not worth anywhere near $8000.00, in fact in my opinion they are not worth half of that. The good one is probably Meji and the "goto" is a copy made by for sale to tourists.
  5. I need assistance on an inscription on a gendai by Kannori. I have attached a photos of the signature which is hard to read, it reads teishitsu gigei-in Sugawara Kanenori 79 futsu saku. The date is Meiji 41 and the inscription I need help with is next to the date. The nagasa is 27" and the hamon is choji midare. The sword will be for sale.
  6. Paul, I agree with everything you said. E-bay is not terrible or wonderful, it can be either. It does furnish buyers, sellers and tire kickers of swords a venue to regularly "view" a wide variety of items both genuine and fake. I have seen newbies and experienced collectors make bad/good buys at shows, auctions and anywhere else swords are sold. When it comes to samurai swords knowedge is power. If you are not sure what you are buying then you shouldn't buy it unless you are willing to take your lumps when you are wrong. Dale
  7. I had the opportunity to handle and examine an almost identical mounting about 15 years ago which was owned by a local collector. The blade was authentic but nothing special; the carved wooden mounts with inlay of ivory were, what I considered to be, an exceptional example of the art of wood carving. This was not something done quickly or recently based on the quality of the work and the obvious age of the piece. In my opinion it was made for decorative purposes and probably for export at the begining of the Meji period- just my opinion. I think that some board members are a little quick to jump to the conclusion that anything for sale on ebay must be trash. I personally know of one sword that went juyo bought off e-bay and also a now papered Rai blade. I had the good fortune to buy on ebay a long signed, ubu Hizen Yukihiro katana which now has tokubetsu hozon papers. Let the buyer beware is the first rule of ebay, but IF youi know what you are doing ar are willing to take a risk there are occasional gems. Dale
  8. I know that the artist is named but Hirochika but what is the inscription on the right side? I have included a picture of the work Thanks
  9. THE INSCRIPTION ON THIS SOFT METAL TSUBA HAS ME STYMIED. YOUR HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED. THANKS
  10. HERE IS A "FRESH" SOKAN PRIOR TO RESTORATION -AS FOUND
  11. Here are some pictures of the Nobuhide. Unfortunately I have not been able to get good shots of the hamon or hada. The hada and hamon on this sword are very similar to the link posted earlier by Franco to the online Nobuhide. I would say the hamon on this sword is more active that the online sword.
  12. Thank you Moriyama san for the translation, thank you Chris for the excellent kantei of the work style; and thank you Chris and YimuYin for your work on the translation
  13. Chris was correct that the sword was done in the style off Soshu Tsunhiro, but it not by the Tsunahiro who worled in shinshinto it is by.....
  14. I have attached a photo of a long inscription on a fantastic sword (at least that's my opinion) I generally know what the long inscription says but would like an exact translation please. I have also posted some photos of the blade. Any one care to guess the maker? I will post the signature later.
  15. As promised here is the signature. I cannot get the town name? after "niote ---- ----- Osaka"
  16. THIS IS A LONG INSCRIPTION ON A VERY FINE SHINSHINTO SWORD THAT HAS ME STYMIED. ASSISTANCE PLEASE. I WILL POST THE SIGNATURE TOMORROW, SO TODAY IS THE DAY FOR RAMPANT SPECULATION DALE
  17. I just sold a sword on ebay to a bidder from China. I would appreciate advice from anyone with experience in shipping to China on costs, shippers to use, difficulties, customs procedures, etc. Thanks, Dale G
  18. Most, and probably all, of the swords at Bonham's were from US collectors. I don't know about the armor. At Christies there were swords from both the US and Japan, again I don't know about the armor but I suspect it was from both the US and Japan. I also don't want to give the impression that sword prices have collapsed. I think that perhaps they are more unpredicatble than previously. For instance the juyo Reisen Sadamori went for just $16.2, while a very nice Bishu... Sukesada went for $21.5, the Horakawa Kunimori daisho with juyo dai went for $86.5 and a shisnhinto "daisho" by Yoshishige and Massaki went for $46.2. Both the aformentioned "daisho" and the Sukesade substantially exceeded the estimate. It should also be noted that the fancy tantos did quite well with prices from $10 to $22k.
  19. I attended the Christies' viewing in person and the sale via the internet. The swords at Christies were some of the finest I have ever had the opportunity to exaimine and that includes my trip to Japan for the 50th anniversary of the NBTHK about 11 years ago. The Go Yoshihiro was spectacular. Words really fail me in trying to describe the level of the workmanship. The Christies' description ended with "This is nothing less than a masterpiece." and I have to agree. Plus there was a juyo Yoshioka Ichimonji, an Ubu tokubetsu jyuo Katayama Ichimonji, an almost ubu juyo Nagamitsu of really imposing proportions, a jyuo o-suriage Nagamitsu, a juyo Taema, a juyo Tergai Kanenaga wakizashi, a juyo Reisen Sadamori. TWO jyuo Hizen Tadakunis, a juyo Horikawa Kunimori, a shodai Tadayoshi tanto in ensuite juyo Tomei mounts, the finest naginata I have ever seen, by Sukesada, and a number of other fine blades whcih were a pleasure and an educational experience to handle. My friend and I were the ONLY people looking at the swords. We examined everything at our leisure. I tell you this to encourage those in traveling distance to follow the spring and fall NYC auctions and make every attempt to attend when quality blades are on offer. Where else can you spend all day looking at good and sometimes great swords? Not to be too mercantile, but it does seem that prices for juyo swords are falling. My pesonal opinion had been that the best swords were holding their value. The Christies' sale changed my mind. The juyo Yoshioka Ichimonji, a beautiful sword, went for $30k (all prices include the 25% buyer premium unless I quote the final bid for unsold lots). Neither Tadakuni sold, one had been sold at Christies in 2007 for $91k and only reached a bid of $45k, the juyo Taema went for $22k. The Go went for $194k and the almost ubu Nagamitsu stopped at a final bid of $170k and the other had a final bid of $50k.. I may be wrong and it may be that this sale was an aberration in terms of results but I don't think so. 2/3 of the swords in this sale sold compare to a 10% sale rate at Bonhams. The Chrisites' swords were estimated and reserved at much more realistic numbers.
  20. There were two auctions in NYC this week to kick off the Arts of the Samurai exhibit at the Met. The auction at Bonhams was pretty much a bust for the swords. They had 40 or so swords for sale with the quality from excellent to mediocre. The problem was the estimated prices and the reserves. The estimates/reserves did not reflect the current market. Only 5 swords sold. Interestingly two of those were Sukesadas, a wakizashi went for $3,660 and a katana went for $7,320 - but the katana had a gold cutting test. Both were signed Bishu ...... Also sold was a mumei tanto in nice mounts with NTHK papers to Horikawa Kunihiro for $30,500 - probably a good price IF it reallly is a Kunihiro, but I didn't think so. The other big dollar item was a ken in spectaluar dragon mounts with a 3 dimensional dragon wrapped all around the saya for $42,700. Unsold were a jyuo token Gojo, a juyo token GO Yoshihiro, a beautifuol naoe Shizu waki in nice mounts, an UBU nagamaki by Kanabo Masatsugu with orignal muromachi mounts, a shinshinto Jusan with beautiful dragon horimono etc. Unfortunately the Bonhams web site does not have very good pictures so you can't really see anything. Interestingly Bonhams has for sale by "private treaty" ( I guess the UN has to negotiate this) juyo bijutsuhin Rai Kunitoshi, unsigned but Ubu with mounts, a tokubetsu juyo Bizen Kunimune ubu with mounts and a tokubetsu jyuo Kaneuji. The Kunitoshi and the Kunimune are very elegant, slim swords with tight hada and suguha hamons while the Kaneuji is very flamboyant and a real chopper from Nambokucho. I will try to post a message later about the swords at Christies which were of exceptionaly quality and sold fairly well. You can go on the Christies' web site and see the swords pretty well, they have photos that you can zoom in. Dale
  21. This inscription is on a late war naval sword. The blade is stainless steel with an anchor stamp. Nagasa is 24" and the kissaki is stubby. The tang is quite long, over 10". The saya has standard naval fittings with only one hanger, and the finish is what I would call crackle, not the typical black lacquer. The handle does not have same under the wrap and is either black painted wood or maybe leather? I haven't seen a naval sword like this before. I have posted two pictures of the inscription. So what does this say?
  22. This is sayagaki from a recent purchase. Please assist with translation. The sayagaki not photographed says: Yamato (no) Kuni Juin Senjuin Shigehiro. The sword came right out of an estate and appears to be a Kamakura Yamato tachi. Dale Garbutt
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