kusunokimasahige

I am not certain whether in Japan there were different names for various sizes of tsuba. Maybe Ford Hallam knows. It is a lovely piece ! KM

Looks to me like a tourist piece made of alloy. Really strange it has 10 bids. KM

Gorgeous video Ford ! Shared it on Facebook. Love that Tsuba ! KM

Stephen you are absolutely right. I had it confused with another type of tassel. My bad !! Sorry. KM

Really Mark ? I thought only General's tassels fetched that amount of money. KM [Edit]

Great news and gorgeous sword ! KM

Nevermind

The Auction house in question already was in the news with a not so nice sale : https://m2.facebook.com/stopskullsale?v ... KEeCGKXPfL http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... anned.html

Thank you all for those links and the post ! Completely missed that shipwreck find KM

Some auctioneers are just totally mental...... But the buyer who falls for it and would pay top dollar is even more mental if you ask me..... KM

Here is some more info from another site : http://www.tameshigiri.ca/2014/09/07/ja ... une-sword/ KM

I read: .... Ya Fu Yo Hi (or bi ?) *??* A Ro (Ru?).... in the "damaged" Hiragana in the left column.

Very nice find ! What you could do is scan the booklet, make it into a PDF and upload it with Brian's help to the articles and reference part of this site. KM

Could well be Chris, judging from the circular colour difference along the puncture mark. KM

I know it is a long shot but could that dent be a puncture mark made by a yari thrust ? It looks quite nice Jussi ! Pity I do not have the money or I would have bought it. KM

Thank you ever so much for this great article !! KM

Forwarded it to Markus via Fb. KM

I check a lot of things before I bid on any item. Sellers reputation, feedback, other items sold or selling, and bidders. If I bid on an item and get outbid by someone who has only activity with 1 seller which is the one selling the item I know that shill bidding is going on. If a bidder bids on enormous amounts of stuff with various people, whether or not this is in the category or outside of it, he or she is most likely a dealer. I refuse to bid on items in China (except for some sellers I know are genuine), Many Eastern European countries, African countries, depending on what is on sale. Having been the victim of a Romanian/Italian scam with a Samurai Helmet once I have learned to be very careful. 0 feedback bidders or sellers are a no go for me. So you can at times buy good things but if you do not know your way around Ebay do not go there. It's that simple really. KM

If a doh is a doo doo, you are right George..... KM

Great explanation guys ! Thank you KM

Of course during wartime or on the battlefield swords would have been sharpened by whatever came to hand. During WWII many women and kids were put to polishing and sharpening duties of Gunto for the war effort. http://books.google.nl/books?id=c7YeN0F ... me&f=false Now whether or not that also happened during the Sengoku-Jidai I do not know. It might be that polishing stones were carried by samurai in the field but the higher ranking samurai might have had their own polishers on duty. KM

Lately I have seen Gunto Tsuka go for exorbitant prices on Ebay. What causes this ? I personally think that anyone willing to pay 350US$ or more for a Gunto Tsuka is off his rocket. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R4 ... uka&_sop=3 KM

Dan might be on the mark here. You spot an item for sale somewhere, put it on ebay without having it and accept a higher offer than the sale price after which you buy the item cheap from its owner. Then you can send it to the Ebay buyer. Tricky stuff. KM

Since most Japanese walls in castles (if you discount the base) were made of wattle and daub and wood it is highly unlikely that any warrior ever tried to sharpen his yari or sword on a wall. Also, no Japanese houses of that era were made of stone. KM

Looking great Stephen !! Lovely work there ! KM