Surfson

Thanks Peter. The nengo of sho-o is a reasonable likeness of what is carved, but I can't find a Bizen Iyemori that worked that late, at least in Hawley's, in which the latest one was a full century earlier. i suppose I will have to try to dig through the Nihonto Meikan. The other troubling fact is that the blade has a deep koshizori (sorry no photos), and by the late 17th century (i.e. Sho-o), most makers were producing fairly straight swords. Any other suggestions would be welcome! Cheers, Bob

Hi All. I am considering a sword that is for sale locally, and am a bit stuck on the mei and the date. It is a slightly machiokuri bizen koto katana with a nice koshizori and what looks like typical bizen hamon to me. It is slightly over 27" long and in fair polish (ok to enjoy). I only have a few poor photos from my cell phone, and am just posting the mei and date. The mei reads bishu osafune iye...... Looks like it could be nori, mori (the kazu form) or maybe sada to me. The date should help with this, but I am stuck on that too. I suspect that it is a variant date, and looks most like Ko-o in the period in which I think it was likely made (around 1400). Any ideas from the true experts as to mei, nengo and whether it is likely to be shoshin would be appreciated. I will point out that it is signed tachi mei. Cheers, Bob

I have to admit that I have bought a few that had identification cards on them and wondered about doing this.... The most amazing example that I know of is when Walter Compton returned a Kunimune national treasure blade. I think that he became an instant celebrity in Japan!

I bought one item from him a couple of years ago. I offered him half of his asking price and he accepted my offer. I wouldn't assume that he needs to get near the buy it now price.

Many collectors don't worry too much about incidental touching when a blade is completely out of polish. I'm sure that Mike explained to Rick that touching an in-polish blade is verboten! I've never been to the shop, but they seem to have a handful of blades on display, some with sayagaki in what appear to be new saya, so I suspect that they do know how to handle restored blades.

I just spoke with John last week. He has been very busy with nihonto work, so that is good. I don't think that the website has been active for quite a while, so best to use his email. Cheers, Bob

There was an episode a few years ago where a guy brought in a Yasutsugu with Kikumon in samurai mounts that they bought for $1500 or so (the guy wanted $5K). They brought in their friend and expert - who was none other than Mike Yamasaki. Mike had it restored for them (which cost $5K or so and took a few minutes on the show), and told them it was worth $15K or so (I may have these numbers off a little, but that was the gist). No mention about papers, but I thought it was a pretty decent episode and it was great to see Mike on the show.

I go for all but "other"!

Yes, all beautiful and in mint condition. Very nice swords! Have any been restored since WWII?

Wow Thierry, what a wonderful collection! It's also great to have the collection available and with you at all times - on your phone, ipad, whatever. How did you photograph them to have that nice off white background? Cheers, Bob

Looks like Chikuzen no kami nobuhide, second kanji is hara, but don't know the first off the top of my head. b

Did you relist it? If so, is it still active?

Thanks for sharing this and posing the question. You are getting somewhat diverse answers. I'm not sure it is as late as Meiji - it might be earlier based on the dark patina. I'm also not wild about the condition or shape of the nakago; it shows some recent damage, which detracts. A polish would likely not be worth the investment, unless you have an attachment to it as mentioned above. The mounts on the other hand are not bad. As mentioned, I like the string wrap, the menuki look like they may be fairly good, and the fuchi kashira look to have two different metals in them, a darkened copper band on the inner aspect as well as the yamagane. Even more appealing is that the fuchi kashira appear to be en suite with the tsuba. If it were mine, I would be having the debate that you are having - is it worth having the handle wrapped? I think that with some new same and a simple wrap, it would be an attractive, en suite piece. In that case, I would view the blade as a steel tsunagi. Cheers, Bob

I would be inclined to leave it alone too. You will likely crack or break the ivory. Based on the shape of the blade, and my guess that it is a rather slight blade lacking of uchisori, I would think that it is unlikely to be a special blade. Just my guess.

I agree Chris, it has a Kanbun shinto feel to it. It is a 30 min drive from me and I've been thinking to go have a look. b

Yes, this is from the northern part of Japan. It's presently called China.

Thanks to both of you. The answer relates to the potential age of a mumei blade that I purchased, so this is helpful. BTW, I own a Magoroku Kanemoto and knew that he was second generation, just didn't know who was credited with innovating sanbonsugi. Cheers, Bob

Thanks Curran. That would be Magoroku Kanemoto? So it first appeared in the early 1500s then? Cheers, Bob PS, I don't know how to move the thread, but you have answered my main question!

Does anybody know when, and by whom, the sanbon sugi pattern of hamon was invented? I am assuming that it came out of the Mino school, but am prepared to hear differently. Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge. Cheers, Bob

Grev, I can't help you with your questions (though one of the dragons looks like a rain dragon to me), but would like to say that this is a nice collection of tsuba!

There are several dealers that put a buy it now that is at least double the true value and then wait for a bidder to make an offer. I think that they can get offers that are pretty strong just because of their apparent unrealistic expectations.

Mark, I was an underbidder on this sword, and think that you would be completely within your rights to refuse return or offer a 50% return. Part of the reason that the sword went as high as it did is due to the undisturbed nature of the blade, and the likelihood that nobody had had a look at the tang to determine who made it and what era it was from. Since the cutting edge was listed at 28" or so, it seemed quite possible that it was an older sword, as this length is rather uncommon in WWII era swords in general, and especially machine made blades. Your buyer paid a premium to have the pleasure of scratching off the lotto ticket and seeing what he got. It doesn't seem right to me that he wants to return it now that he didn't have a treasure blade on his hands. To flip it around, if he had found a 13th or 14th century blade in there, do you think he would have returned it just because the hole on the handle doesn't line up with the hole in the tang or the combat wrap was modified at some point? I think not. Good luck with the dispute - I hope that you don't end up with a negative feedback. I had a similar dispute with a buyer in Canada. I had listed the sword "as is" for buyers outside the US. He found a small crack in the saya and wanted to return the blade. I offered to reduce the price by $150.00 and he accepted my offer. After all that, he gave me nasty negative feedback!

Hate to say it Roberto, but looks like a Chinese fake to me. Don't be disappointed though, as true nihonto are wonderful to collect and enjoy. Did your grandfather ever say where he got it? Cheers, Bob

Thanks Chris for a thoughtful post. First and foremost, you can always give your swords to me or name me in your will - I just want to get that piece of generosity out there :lol: Seriously, I have thought about this, as my two daughters have no interest in my collection, and it is large, with many swords, fittings, books and related materials. I am planning on the orderly choice - selling most of it before I leave this mortal plane (perhaps keeping just a few choice pieces with explicit instructions for their disposition). Having said that, one never knows when a Chicago Transit Area bus will find you in a crowd and leave your heirs to fend for themselves. For now, I have not made plans for that outcome, other than telling my kids to take it all to Sotheby's. Donation is pretty much a non starter, as there are already collections much better than mine languishing in the back rooms of several museums. Museums generally are not that interested in displaying Japanese swords in the US for some reason. Cheers, Bob

Congratulations to both Ford and Andrew - well done! Ford, I missed the discussion of the Tombo tsuba. It is really wonderful. Cheers, Bob