raven2

I also attended the show and I have to agree with Grey. I thought there was much more traffic and sellers than in the past couple of years. Got a couple of very nice tsuba and was very pleased with them. Will be posting pics later when I can get time to take some.

Beautiful piece. :D

I have got to go along with Chris and Joe. It sure looks gimei to me.

I am inclined to agree with you, James.

Thanks Reinhard, A very interesting and educational "game". :D

Looks like an hagire to me.

You might also try swordsandtsuba.com. Lots of good ones there also.

It is good that the old swords speak to you but what do they say? In particular what does this one say that made you want to buy it other than it was cheap? I really don't see any redeeming attributes to this poor abused blade. Please take more time and consider before you buy in the future. I just really feel that you are looking for that spectacular find. It would be nice if it happened but the odds are astronomically against you, esp if you can't recognize a poor blade when you see it. I would also direct you to the blade Grey was offering or for another one that could be restored, try the one on Bob Benson's site.

I have to agree with the others, this is a very good topic. I have two shinto blades both of which are in fine shape. I feel like I got good deals on both of them and am very happy with them. Both have very, very minor flaws which you really must look hard to find. If I was looking in a higher price range, I would still probably have found the flaws acceptable. However, if I was looking at a lower price range, I would probably find more obvious and larger flaws acceptable. You get what you pay for. I do understand the view of having a perfect blade but considering the ages involved and the polishing, I feel it is unrealistic to expect to find one unless you are going to pay a large premium and are very lucky.

Actually, since I have also collected minerals for years, I can tell you that it is much more easy to recognize a gemstone in its natural state than tell the differences between nihonto and some of the fakes.

If you are going to be using Uchiko, I would reccommend using a very fine one for your polished blades. Bob Benson makes his own and it is very, very fine and thus less likely to dull the polish.

Wow, I agree, beautiful piece. Wish I could get there this year but unfortunately work gets in the way.

Hi Niclas, Very nice blade, I am glad you are so happy with it. Congrats.

I am going to go with Mark on this one. Authentic sword, maybe $500-$1000 but hard to really say without better close ups of the blade. It will cost about $100/inch to polish it, if it is worth polishing. Save your money and wait for a better one. You can find better deals these days with blades in much better shape.

Hi, I am not sure whether it is the photos but it appears to me that there is a lot of rust on the surface. I think that it is early edo but it looks like it needs some work to get it into shape.

Very, very nice. I, too, am drawn to the simplicity of it.

Hi Klaus, I have a wakizashi papered (NBTHK Hozon) to Yokoyama Kozuke Daijo Fujiwara Sukesada and after comparing the mei's I too would have to say that your example is gimei. This is SUK 893 and as Markus has pointed out "the strong points of this smith was a complex gunome-midare with variation in height as well as a nioiguchi with ko-nie." Below is a picture of the hamon.

Great work, Ford.

I am afraid I am with Brian, it doesn't look like it authentic to me.

Another very nice piece, Jason. I really love the mokume in all of these.

Two great tsubas, I love them both and since we are talking mokume, I will add my own smiley fave here. Ono school, early Edo

I 100% agree that it is positive inititive and very worthy. I definitely support the idea.

Hard to tell due the excessive polishing. The blade is very tired but I would hazard a guess at a chu kissaki. The yokote is not evident because of the excessive polishing. If you can't see a hamon, you probably are not going to be able to see the boshi either. The blade needs to be in better polish to see them.

Hi Ben, Welcome to the board. Just my 2 cents. Brian advised you to keep looking because there are other blades out there that are much better deals. It took me quite a while but I got this one a short while ago from one of the commercial sites for the same price range, in this case $2800. I am not trying to toot my own horn but I believe in this case it is applicable since there is a great difference in the blades and by coincidence, my blade is also gimei. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7321

With all due respect, please do not put Reinhard on any of the caches. Not because he does not have the knowledge, but because he is so negative about everything. Obviously this is not an exact science by any means (look at the differences of opinion that can come up in shinsa). He talks about contradictions confusing people, but he is the one who is most likely to contradict. This is only going confuse people more.