Lindus

Hi John,found some of the old pic's,not great quality but will give an idea of some stuff not seen.

Found these old pic's,pretty awfull but will give an idea.

I published some I took way back on the NMB some time ago,will try to find em again John. Regards Roy

In all they have around 600 pieces,you used to be able to make an appointment to view all. Along with Dr FATurk we made a complete catalogue of the collection back in the 80's,fascinating collection by three of the merchant families in the 19th century.

Has finally displayed a small number of their Japanese Swords and fittings, if you are down here{Cornwall} this year drop by,£4 ticket will cover as many visits as you wish.

The old boy has decided that it will be an investment when restored for his Grand children,so have advised on how to go about it carefully. Seems that the man who quoted the value was in fact not a dealer but someone who should have and did know better!,no names but ....... Roy

Thanks gentswill let you know what happens.

Hi Chris Is that £4800 or £800?.

Talking to a retired Police officer in a bar in Cuzco,as ya do brought up the subject and of course he had a shin gunto trophy sword at home in London. That turned out to be a duff one but a great story all the same,today I get an email from an old friend with some pic's of what seems to be a decent Wakizashi. Owned by some old chap in the midlands who has been quoted a value of £600 by some dealer, the question to me is was this a decent price which I cannot answere as have been out of the market for quite a while. Looking at the poor pictures I would have guessed perhaps twice that?....your help on this would be appreciated.

Been a while,very much like the new format,splendid .

Any thoughts on this?,my local post master suggest cannot be done via RM without some jeopardy. Has to be insured and reasonably easy.

I miss old ebay,sold around 500 items from my collection to other collectors/dealers,on a friendly basis. Only once had a problem with some prints which is when I stopped. ebay froze my account,the chap in Spain now has my money and my prints,he 40 positive and four negative,me at that time four hundred positive and no negative. Now they are a sort of Amazon,but full of crooks,they are not interested in the old day intercollector sale but .................ah what the hell,just do not use them,the potential for problems make it {as my Scots friends say}Shite. Build a web site,sell and invite seller/buyers to it,did this around eight years ago and have had some great visits,drunk lunch periods as well as sold & bought. Give it a try,seldom the sales are instant but you get to meet some good folk...{See my feed back from a buyer on Izzi}

Usually when something comes in from my web site it is either a con/buyer guide or on rare occasions genuine. You are probably right Brian,have asked for hands on,Hotmail address so could be from anywhere. Will let you know. Roy

Thanks all,as usual all good com's. Regards Roy

Have just been contacted by a chap with this rather interesting 'Netsuke',seems genuine but as this is the first I have seen I have no idea of value or even if it may be a Chinese fake. Any thoughts folks? Roy

Well said John,would guess that in a situation all the rules of combat go right down the drain. hacking your enemy in any fashion possible to stay alive would seem the norm. Still ask the question as to why on a fairly ordinary sword would,as has been suggested,a cut be placed above the flaw to infer that it caused that flaw?. After all even in its day it would not of been of any great value.

Thanks for the thoughts Gentlemen. The sword was in a terrible condition when I acquired it,could see nothing due to the rust condition. When it came back from the polisher the cut and other flaws were then obvious so if indeed it was made to infer the flaw was caused by the cut,it was done way back in its history. Question,why would that have been done?. Cannot see the reasoning behind it.

I suspect that at some time we have a cut mark on a blade that we would like to believe is from a battle or even better a duel. This on a blade signed Shinano no kami Minamoto Nobuyoshi,earlier know as the 666 blade . Not that this adds any value to a blade,in this case it is just one of several annoying distractions.

Just had a call from an old friend,he had been to an arms fair where he was offered an itomaki tachi, the blade is Hira zukuri. Have only seen one in 40 odd years of collecting so these must be pretty rare,thoughts please as it is priced at 4k.

Before I retired I worked around an area that covered two counties.(States but much smaller) used to put an advert in the local paper saying I would be staying in a certain hotel and gave the date. Folk would turn up with odd oriental things {doubt you could do this today} and on several occasions I bought Nihonto from either families of old soldiers or dealers. Fun side that in those days hotel managers asked politely if I would ask people to cover swords as it "Upset" other residents. When the first Token-Taikai was situated in the Swallow international on the Cromwell road,London. Six out of towners were heading to Taikai room in a Lift (Elevator) all carrying various edged weapons,a group of holiday people from the US asked a Scottish collector what he was doing with his bundle of swords......"Going to take revenge on the English" was his reply. Boy you should have seen the expression on their face,how times have changed,today the 'Lift' would be met with a few guys in black pointing sub machine guns

On a Showa blade perhaps it would be in order to remove?,if ok try a fiber glass pen,was advised this some years ago on a Gassan tanto,worked well without being being too abrasive.

Have two........... {1} A Ron Gregory story. He watched a dust lorry (refuse disposal vehicle) loading in 1948,box with a Japanese character or two on the side being thrown in. He asked if he could have the box and was told it would cost 2/6 {old money...50cents?} paid the chaps and found it was an Armour box with a full suit inside,see....http://collectorsloot.homestead.com/ori5.html. {2} My old boss phoned me to say that his new neighbour was clearing out and that he thought that in the skip outside was what may be a Japanese sword. Drove down breaking all speed limits to find a Kai Gunto sticking out of a pile of broken plaster and dumped ex kitchen. Asked the chap if I could have it...his wife answered for him saying that if it was worth having I should contribute £5 to her church.......told her to stuff it {Joking}.

Did you do that clean up on the nakago????if so,please,never again

Many thanks Malcolm. Is this what you do all day in Gods own city Brian Agree totally,had a relic katana which came with a good Hambo,both dug up form a pit at the back of a theater being demolished. Mounted the sword on a stand made from bog oak and every collector that visited just loved the poor old thing. Positive factor is no shinsa,debates on quality or polish cost.....everyone should have at least one in that condition. Regards Roy

Agree,the mei is nothing like the Japanese style,even the rough Showa script on many swords are of a type. This is almost certainly wrong and may well be one of the many Chinese import copies.