Nefarious Nihonto, Bogus Blades, And The Quest for Bad Papers

[Tom Darling]

I would be concerned an attribution (mumei) on a low ranked smith to be fine. As it very well could be re-submitted to high rated smith, which has been the case.

 

 

Tom D.

[paulb]

If some of the longer term collectors here care to look back at their own beginnings I think many will find they bought a range of variable quality blades before they bought books. I have to admit that when I started it was much easier to buy a sword than it was a book on the subject, especially in English.

Most of us will have searched round arms fairs and bought something we thought was an authentic bargain piece which later proved not to be. After buying one, two or more blades the reference book followed to try and better understand what you had.

Mistakes made? Yes absolutely a lot but fortunately I was able to join a group of people (The Northern Token Society, thank you IanB) and learn a lot from them and their shared experience. 

Some of the benefit of being part of such society's has been replaced by technology and groups like this one where people an come and ask questions. It isn't a true replacement but it is a strong addition.

Re; post an example of a fake paper- it is exactly same as an authentic paper but has the wrong attribution on it. The ones that caused the scandal originated with the NBTHK so were  produced on their paper. There have been many discussions and arguments here about whether they are or are not worth considering. There are all sorts of reasons why a sword may still only have old papers but bottom line is the NBTHK don't recognize them and offered to repaper blades that had these attributions at no cost over a longish period of time so there is little justification for a sword coming out of Japan to still have green papers. 

 

As a purely personal viewpoint  there is no correct way to collect. The right way is the one that suits the collector and gives them most enjoyment. The important thing is that they approach it with a foundation of knowledge and understanding so that the decisions they make are not made on false information or assumptions. Books play an essential role in that process but so does going through the early purchasing process and learning from mistakes made, we all have done that to a greater or lesser extent.