Need help with a purchase

[PxN13]

Hi everyone,

 

Long time lurker on here, but I've been trying to find a nice shobu zukiri blade (2 years now) and this one popped up on my radar recently. I was wondering if anyone could help point out whether this would be a good purchase - picture attached below.

 

Thanks in advance!

[hxv]

I'll stick my neck out to be shot down. The nakago looks fairly new and it lacks details expected of a Japanese sword, and it's unsigned. I would guess Chinese made. I would steer clear of this one.

 

Hoanh

 

[Bruce Pennington]

I can't speak to who made this, but I've always loved this style blade.  This is quite gorgeous!

[PxN13]

6 hours ago, Bruce Pennington said:

I can't speak to who made this, but I've always loved this style blade.  This is quite gorgeous!

That's why I've been hunting for one haha. I know it's not common, but I love the geometry and look (especially with a good amount of sori) 

[PxN13]

13 hours ago, hxv said:

I'll stick my neck out to be shot down. The nakago looks fairly new and it lacks details expected of a Japanese sword, and it's unsigned. I would guess Chinese made. I would steer clear of this one.

 

Hoanh

 

That's why I'm a little iffy on it as well. Something seems a little bit off but I can't place my finger on it. I'll see if anyone else wants to comment on it before making a decision. 

[Ken-Hawaii]

I don't think that the sori matches the rest of the blade, Paul. Why not stick with a known-good seller, especially for your first blade? Brian has made it easy.

[SAS]

My guess is real and shinshinto, looks decent depending on price.

[PxN13]

1 hour ago, Ken-Hawaii said:

I don't think that the sori matches the rest of the blade, Paul. Why not stick with a known-good seller, especially for your first blade? Brian has made it easy.

I check pretty much weekly to see if I can find a good shobu blade at the various well regarded sellers but either haven't been able to find or miss something by a hair. Also could you clarify what you mean by the sori not matching the rest of the blade? 

[Surfson]

There appears to be a fair bit of interesting activity in the hamon and hada, but I am concerned about the finishing work on the tang and would like to see better photos of the tang.  You can always ask for a guarantee that it will pass shinsa.  For a mumei sword, such a guarantee shouldn't be too hard for a seller to agree to if they believe it to be genuine.