Mark

masamitsu saku kore showa 16 8th month

the black writing (if that is what you are asking about) says 85, it is an assembly number used when mass produced blades are assembled in a "factory", used to keep all parts together, that is why your parts are stamped #85

David McDonald was wrapping handles, not sure is he is a NMB member but he has a web site

I see a lot of these, they usually have poorly made blades, mostly machine made. In my area they sell in the $150-200 range

Ben welcome to the NMB. Great that you have an interest in tsuba. after a quick glance I wonder if #1 & #3 have had gold paint added? I am more of a blade collector so maybe I am off base, I am sure others will comment. I like the heianjo tsuba, it seems to be in good condition, my guess would be late 1500's or early 1600's. The last tsuba looks suspect, it may be a modern or cast copy. As I said I am not an expert but wanted to add a comment as it is nice to have a new member

the signature does read that way, you are correct. That being said it does not mean Kiyomaro made the sword, it is just the name written on the tang

smith looks like Ujifusa

any chance to see a picture?

Good to hear Arnold found potential treasure, I heard a number of attendees found something special to take home. Here is another picture I copied of someone's Facebook page

Ron I did not mention any names (privacy) but a few NMB members are visible in some pictures, if they want to identify themselves that is fine

I will let others give their opinions of the show as it would be self serving to say anything positive from myself. but I will say some things about what was there... The NBTHK American Branch put on a GREAT program Saturday afternoon, they first had a kantei session with 2 blades, one of the a Chogi, then Bob Benson reviewed the kantei "guesses" and explained some pointers to help participants learn. Then they put out a group of SoShu blades, all Juyo and higher, as I recall: Chogi - powerful and wild SA Hiroyuki - elegant SA Sadayohi - fantastic horimono Yukimitsu- just "Wow" Usually these exhibitions are for members and others can come in for a small charge but the NBTHK (AB) genourously opened it to all at no charge. You could walk in and walk up to each blade, pick it up, examine it, study it (great sword viewing lighting was set up). What a great opportunity to learn hands on. It was very kind of the owners of these fine swords to share them with anyone who wanted to study them. In the show room was the display of Naokatsu as mentioned before, Thank Ron!!!!! Also there was armor displayed (available for sale but great to see). There was a display of fine menuki. A real highlight was a display of Very Special Tsuba, they are Daimyo fittings. The owner, from Japan, brought them to display, he had printed information and he was happy to answer all questions and discuss the history and provenance of all the items. I am not a tsuba collector so hopefully someone else will provide more information but I remember one was a Miyamoto Musashi tsuba, others owned by Daimyo and important historical persons. This was a better display (items together in one place) than you would see in a museum in Japan. As a side note the owner said he was so happy to see the items being appreciated that he will bring some other special items next year ( I heard him mention a Masamume but we will have to see next year). From a business end: it was encouraging to see a Japanese dealer in attendance, he flew in just for the show. It seemed he had a successful visit and I saw him carrying a lot of swords out of the room and he needed additional cases to pack the items (I was happy to donate a case as a few of the swords were mine and I did not need as many cases going home. A number or dealers commented they had great shows, one said it was his best show in 20 years, another was excited to sell a high end item they had carried to shows for several years. Buyers perspective: I know quite a few swords were brought in from by the public, I saw them come in but as promoter I wanted to make sure those in the room had the opportunity so I worked hard to buy none of the swords that walked in. I did hear some quite excited about items they bought. Maybe some will comment about that (as I said not buying any I have nothing to say). There seemed to be some very good deals on tables and a lot seemed to find new homes. that is all from me for now. I hope others will give there thoughts

One of the Displays Naokatsu swords has mentioned earlier sorry for the poor pictures, look much better in person

More Tables

here are Some Individual Tables

I now realize I do not have a flair for photography, or even the ability to focus it would seem. anyway, here are some, maybe someone else has others I will do it in sections: this is" View From The Door" since I don't have wide angle it is 3 images panning across

will do, be home tomorrow and will get some posted

one side looks like gombashi and the other a dragon and ken

maybe Yukihira? Fittings look decent

Piers Thanks a bunch! I do not know much about matchlocks, but I would have thought by the 1850-60's the Japanese would have been using more modern technology. Interesting Mark

I am not very good understanding the mei on matchlocks, can someone help? Thanks!

BiShu Osafune Sukemune BiShu Osafune Sukesada

If anyone is considering coming to the show, TODAY is the last day the hotel will allow the show discount rate of $109 (I was able to get them to extend it past 3/30 to 4/15), the regular rate is about $150 here is a link https://aws.passkey.com/event/10702618/owner/4631/home Tables were sold out but I have one person who has health issues and may not be able to make it, so I have 2 tables available. If you have any questions contact me at chicagoswordshow@gmail.com or see http://www.chicagoswordshow.com Thanks, should be a great time

January 1945 Kazu (or Ichi) Shige saku

Grey Doffin sells the set of Fujishiro volumes, check http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.c ... -fujishiro It is best to invest a little in reference books before making a large mistake with a sword.

I may be wrong but it sure looks like a Chinese fake to me, written better than some of the other examples but maybe they are getting better.... some pictures of the blade and complete sword would help