Mark

Sorry to have to post sad news ... I just heard Bob Elder passed away yesterday. I knew he was not well but still a shock. I had just communicated with him a week or so back. Many of us knew him from various shows and he organized the Orlando Show.

not positive, maybe ??? 9 first kanji could be 10 or 20 or mean a group......... only a guess

you can post a picture for confirmation but "Brass handled" NCOs are Chinese copies in my experience. Genuine ones are copper (rare) and painted aluminum (also later wood ones)

sorry i didn't mean to hijack the thread so will give my best guess (answer) to your question: From looking at the other thread my explanation for the kanji would be that the blade has always been viewed as a "utilitarian" blade. It may have been part of a castle or arsenal's "stock" of weapons, something stored and issued to someone when needed. The markings may be something used to organize, inventory, track etc the blade. You see kanji like that on blades used in the Satsuma rebellion in later 1800's

Bruce can you link some of the swords you are talking about please. I look at Aoi's swords and have not noticed anything unusual (maybe i am missing something so good to learn). A trained polisher will not "polish" the nakago (other than the inch or so by the machi) but they will remove red, newer, rust and stabilize the patina on the nakago. A good polisher can remove a signature and repatinate the nakago so are qualified to repair/restore the nakago properly

bid away. have fun https://bid.sofedesignauctions.com/lots/view/4-4L7HNA/rare-koto-era-Japanese-samurai-sword-dagger-blade-with-imperial-mon-long-signature

that is accurate, Tulsa has at least double National Gun Day tables

Dan still not sure. they plan to come and want to come but travel restrictions are an issue. I understand they will decide one way or the other for sure in next few weeks.... i will update when i know

Here is a close up of the part that is hard to read. I am now thinking it was an attribution to someone else. Probably unreadable but if anyone has a guess please let me know. Thanks again for all your help

I have looked at Andy's sword and hopefully helped him out some...... My impression is: Blade appears Muromachi, it is signed katana mei not tachi mei but we could see that from the pictures. The blade looks to be medium quality, i don't see any visible fatal flaws, there are some small carbon inclusions and/or small pits or ware', some nicks (polish should take out), some coarse hada (maybe core steel), habaki was tight and i didn't want to damage it so left it as is so didn't see the machi. I think it was originally signed Fujishima_______ and the smiths name has been lost. All in all the blade is an honest Koto sword, not a treasure but not junk, just mediocre. The tsuka and saya were redone probably Meiji for export (sale to foreigners), you can see the 2 hangers were not original, they were added to the saya. The tsuba is ok, nothing special my guess is Meiji, same for fuchi kashira and menuki. The hangers have dragons (one is missing on one side) and Tigers (the tigers seem to be maybe tobacco pouch ornaments, the dragons look like they were made as part of the hanger but they must of been added as you can see the spot where the missing one was attached). Probably the sword had samurai mounts and then they were tarted up in Meiji. I gave some suggestions about how to care for the sword and preserve the koshirae as it will deteriorate if left as is or mishandled. He will probably post his thoughts.

Tom and Moriyama San, Thanks for all the help!!!!! Very interesting. There were only 5 pictures, it looked like there were links for 2 at the beginning, not sure what happened, I had to edit multiple times to get the pictures in the right order......... Here are some pictures. The blade is very slender, but appears to be made that way as the temper is not thin (unless retempered). It has very nice hada (in my opinion) and gives the idea of some age but signed Norimitsu so i would expect 1500's. Not sure what to make of it, that is why i posted to see if the sayagaki could offer some direction. I guess the mei could have been added to match a katana? If so maybe the upper part of the sayagaki was written when it was mumei with an attribution to another smith and that was removed if the mei was added??? a conundrum. The blade looks older and better (or just different) than i would expect for Bizen Norimitsu ( i realize there were good Norimitsu but the mei does not look like one of the notable ones)

i have a wakizashi in shirasaya. It has 2 long columns of sayagaki. I can make out some, i can see Meiji 34, 5th day, but some of the rest is beyond me, the first part seems worn or "distressed" not sure if someone tried to remove or hide that part. I would appreciate some assistance Thanks in advance !!

if you are in Tecumseh i live near Toledo. If you want someone to look at it let me know. nixe@bright.net

looks like a nice sword with interesting mei. it should do well

after standing on my head for a few minutes i would guess Sukemune. The blade looks like it is toast