cpukill

My apologies Brian. As for the weird price that was offered to us for the old guys sword, my thinking was that collector was just not as knowledgeable as many are on here, and thought the sword was something that it was not. Maybe he thought the old-style stylized Kanji made the sword older than what it was. Either way, the old guy still isn't going to sell it. $2500 isn't a lot compared to how much some of the older antiques he has. Basically, what it comes down to, he's been trying to sell all his heirlooms that are high-dollar items, then split the money with his kids, rather than have them fight over the items. It's such a messed up situation that they're putting the poor guy through, but he still loves them, so he's doing what he can to try and repair his family. I can't say I'd be doing the same if it was my own spoiled children that. Probably makes him a better man than me :lol: Oh, and Brian, I got this weird email a few days back, from a 'Pawel Nowak': Dunno if it's one of your members trying to sell outside of the forum or what. I've got no real interest in getting a sword of my own (I'm more of a firearms collector than anything else) so I guess this guy was trying to sell to what he thought was an ignorant schmuck. Anyways, thanks again all , for all your help. -Erik

Here you go tom, hopefully this gives you the closeup you wanted of the menuki. As you can see, at one time, the kashira and tsuba were gold-leaf plated, would that have something to do with him offering so much? I can't see how, since most of it has worn off.

Second set:

I'm actually laughing at the comments that this sword is only worth $2500. That's probably the best news that I could give to the old guy. His kids have been fighting over some of the various items he's collected over the years that are worth some money (one Revolutionary War musket he has is worth well over $10K!). He's tired of them fighting over his heirlooms, because they think they're worth tens of thousands, AND he's not even dead yet! It's really a sad state of affairs, which is why he asked my brother to find out what he could about the sword. We're a third party in all this mess, and he's known us since we were pups. Whenever he'd want a tree taken out on his property or help with brush clearing, my brother and I would always do the work for him (heck, when you're 12 years old, $10 is a lot of cash :lol: ). Why that collector was offering $10,000 on the spot is beyond me now. Granted, the blade it still sharp as heck and in excellent condition, but if what you're telling me is true, he must have thought it was something else. Serves the arrogant idiot if he would get taken for that, in my opinion. He just had this...arrogant attitude that really irritated me. Oh, I did finally find someone online that translated the entire thing for me (a native born Japanese that speaks very fluent english). He emailed me this a few hours back: The first translator I tried, yes, was rather young. Anyways, on to more pictures! Hope you all can get some enjoyment out of this, it's been a nice little discovery for me to find all this out. I greatly appreciate all the help that was provided.

Oh, and I'll try to have some hi-resolution pics of the blade up tomorrow. Camera decided it was going to go on the fritz after I got back from deer hunting, I just happened to have these transferred to my PC before it did.

It's not really one he was planning on selling. If the thing was worth $100,000, I think the old guy might sell it (just to give his kids the money) but he's an old salt that likes having the thing hanging in his garage. More than anything, it's a curiosity to me. I'm far from an expert on swords period, but I always like learning about new subjects. Heck, the blade is sharp as can be, even after the trip back here and 60 years later. I thought it was a minor miracle that it is in as good of shape as it is. We tried to have someone translate the script, but she said it was too old for her to read. Was there a change that happened? I've tried doing some research about the various scripts that were used in Japan, and to be honest, it's pretty overwhelming. Some additional pics below.

Greetings all. I know it's rather noobish for someone with just one post to come into a forum and ask for help, but this site seems like probably the best place to find an answer to my questions. This sword was picked up by a family friend (who is in his late 80's now) during his time in World War II. He served in the Philippines as a combat medic and came across this sword while on a 'clean crew'. He can't remember much more than that (60+ years of memories will do that to a man) and asked my brother to find out anything he could about this sword. Well, my brother isn't exactly the most technically proficient guy, and asked me if there were any resources I might be able to tap. I've taken these pictures from the best angles I could get of the signature. The sword blade it totally spotless. I have more pictures of the hilt and tsuba for any interested. We attempted to get a semi-serious collector to give us some information on the sword, all he offered was $10,000 on the spot and refused any further detail. To be honest it was pretty insulting. Any details are all would be appreciated. A link to all hi-res pictures is http://rapidshare.com/files/325083745/Desktop.rar