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Take A Guess Kudasai


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Gents,

    Headed out after work for a night auction a few hours away last night.   I brought this home and it cleaned up pretty nice.   Anyone want to take a stab at the bladesmith before I work the handle off?  

 

Best Regards,

  Bob

 

P.S.  With my luck it is mumei or gimei.

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Fellas,

      Wow, this was my third stuck handle in my nihonto handling career and took a hour to get the peg out and handle off.   Two hole shorten blade, no mei.    In my unprofessional amateurish and usually wrong assumptions I would say this work is a muromachi era Soshu work moving towards sue soshu.      The thing that really is nice is the holographic quality you get with the hamon.  Where with a subtle movement of the wrist you can go to full hitasura to gunome and back again.  Really incredible stuff.   

 

   I am a big fan of these old (Edo?) polishes that have passed the test of time. 

 

Auction Story:

    So I'm sitting in this little auction barn in the small town in nowhere North Carolina.   There were a few other military guys who also showed up from around the state as a small collection of military swords where on hand among other decent antiques.   The Japanese blade was first on the sword side to go and the left bid on this was $300 bucks so we go from there.    I look confident and after a minute or so I win the bid.

    Sooo, a sword or two later is this really old U.S.  sword that nobody really knows much about.   The auction says Medical service but I know it is not that.    Since I bid up the Japanese sword the competition shuts down quick after I join in the fun and I get the second sword I came there for... cheap.

 

  This morning with the help of another forum;  it's a rare early West Point Cadet sword pre Civil War.   One of 400 ever made and one of 100 sent to West Point in 1856.   You know how civil war collectors are, so this is a incredible find as it is cleaner than the one at the West Point Museum from what I can tell.  

 

http://www.oldswords.com/articles/THE%20U%20S%20%20MODEL%201839%20CADET%20SWORD%201.pdf

 

So this is a lucky Nihonto, not like the other one with the ghost. 

 

Best Regards.

   Bob

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Thanks for the kind words fellas,  I've had a good year buying antiques; handling many  antique guns and swords, clocks & watches and toys.  Also mined a few big teeth from the bottom of the ocean this year to boot and did not get the bends (3x dudes) or get killed 2x dudes).   If I stop posting some day it probably means a big auction sale here of my gear (Don't miss it)  as I did not come back from a dive.

 

  The only thing that may be better than finding a big tooth is finding and buying a great nihonto in the sticks.

 

  I'll have to save some $ for a Shinsa trip as I have been putting that off and really need to get some of these neck shavers looked at as books only can do so much on mumei pieces. 

 

Best regards,

  Bob

 

P.S.

   PM if you are interested in purchasing a tooth for Christmas,  you deserve it!!

 

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Bob,

 

Great stuff.  I'd like to hear the story of the tooth dives.  Is this a "fossil field" on the ocean bottom, or do you have to dig for them??  Are the rest of the shark remains there too??  And what sort of sharks are/were these and how old are the teeth???  The story mate, the story please.  I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering.  As Nihonto Chicken used to remark "Curious minds want to know".  (How's ir going Rick??)

 

Bestests,

BaZZa.

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About the sword, hopefully it will paper well to a koto man.  If it's cut down shinto, you may have a dilemma as to whether it is worth the investment to have it polished in Japan.  As to the pre civil war sword - wow, what a great find!  As to the teeth, I would be interested in a big clean one if the price is right.  Being interested in old sharp things, like nihonto, I just bought a wooly mammoth tusk.  As the permafrost thaws out in Siberia, these things are showing up on the market at more affordable prices.  Cheers, Surf

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Hey Bob in the next couple weeks I may want another tooth as the Mother of my daughter walked out on us recently and I'm not sure if she took the mega tooth with her so if I can't find it I will be up for another one mate. All the best.

 

Greg

Greg,  Hopefully she didn't grab any blades.  When I got kicked out for a few weeks last year the old lady grabbed 8 or so nihonto I had in grabbing distance.   One is still missing!   Anyway, let me know if I can help! 

Best Regards,

   Bob

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Bob,

 

Great stuff.  I'd like to hear the story of the tooth dives.  Is this a "fossil field" on the ocean bottom, or do you have to dig for them??  Are the rest of the shark remains there too??  And what sort of sharks are/were these and how old are the teeth???  The story mate, the story please.  I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering.  As Nihonto Chicken used to remark "Curious minds want to know".  (How's ir going Rick??)

 

Bestests,

BaZZa.

Bazza,     Yes they are in fossil fields of the N.C. coast in just a few small areas.   The coordinates of good fields are kept secret and the numbers are sometimes sold for many thousands of dollars.    The teeth are about 10 million years old.    They lay anywhere from 95-110 feet in these areas and basically you look for large pieces of whale bone which are remnants of shark's supper.    Most of the surface fossil teeth are gone, so you head down there with a 50 pound scooter with 2 lead acid batteries.    You use that to blow the overburden down to bedrock stopping at times to see what you blew out or is laying in the hole.   The deeper you go the bigger the teeth most of the time.    Time to reach the area is 2 to 3 hours as it is way off shore and sea conditions are usually rough if you are not used to it.   I'm probably good for 2017 but will hang it up soon.

 

Best Regards,

   Bob

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About the sword, hopefully it will paper well to a koto man.  If it's cut down shinto, you may have a dilemma as to whether it is worth the investment to have it polished in Japan.  As to the pre civil war sword - wow, what a great find!  As to the teeth, I would be interested in a big clean one if the price is right.  Being interested in old sharp things, like nihonto, I just bought a wooly mammoth tusk.  As the permafrost thaws out in Siberia, these things are showing up on the market at more affordable prices.  Cheers, Surf

Surf,

  Waiting for Brian to PM me about Masamune.

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Thank you Bob, she didn't take a sword but she took my car and nearly all our photos and she is is the one that did the dirty. Anyway we are way better off without her and her lies.

Anyway I hope she didn't take the big mega tooth I got from you, they are really cool. From a shark that's like a great white but way bigger, could bite a whale in half with one bite. I think they are a great gift as I gave a good friend the other one out the two I got from you.

If I don't find it I will let you know and buy another one or two mate. Safe diving Bob.

 

Greg

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