Great Finds on Ebay

[Mark S.]

15 hours ago, Brian said:

Plus this sword is beyond saving. It can't be saved. It's dead.

I think this is the main point.  Send it to whomever… top of the line polisher in Japan or Sam the butcher… and spend $1 or a million $… it’s not going to matter.  There won’t be enough left to worry about.  So throw away the money, but please post pictures of a toothpick made up of core steel if even that is left.

 

Rather than fight with someone who doesn’t want to hear the benefits of proper polishing on a blade that can’t be properly saved/polished by someone who couldn’t properly polish it anyway, let him spend money on grinders who work on blades that aren’t worth it.  That way, hopefully, he won’t buy blades and ruin them that ARE worth it.  Let’s face it, he is spending $$$ on a $1 blade that will end up being worth $0.  It’s hard to convince someone otherwise.  
 

Looking forward to pictures.  

[NewB]

Gentlemen 

 

It's pointless expanding/debating on/about this. The fellow forumite has a mind of his own and that's quite alright.

 

while It's noble to intend to restore and preserve, in this case is simply a mission impossible. If I were to be a togishi I'd reject the project as this blade would do more damage to the polishing stones than anything else. Hard to justify considering the photos. 

 

Just wishing peace and success 

 

 

J.

[FZ1]

Hello Dick,

 

This thread may put some of the comments into context regarding the NMB community's view of polishing.  I'm not saying your friend is doing it right or wrong, just pointing to a post which might help explain folks' thinking.

 

Cheers,

 

Jon

 

 

 

[Baba Yaga]

7 hours ago, FZ1 said:

Hello Dick,

 

This thread may put some of the comments into context regarding the NMB community's view of polishing.  I'm not saying your friend is doing it right or wrong, just pointing to a post which might help explain folks' thinking.

 

Cheers,

 

Jon

 

 

 

Seems like it's a joke to get people riled up, like they need help these days.

Back to ebay. If you think those swords from Japan are polished by a trained Togi read the AOI article on polishing in the West.

Maybe we should have a double blind polish off American style. The gold metal going to the best. People like Snoop Dog can judge. 

[FZ1]

4 hours ago, Baba Yaga said:

Seems like it's a joke to get people riled up, like they need help these days.

 

No joke mate, just trying to help the poster understand where some of the comments come from. 

[WillFalstaff]

On 3/5/2022 at 10:45 PM, DickH said:

> Is your friend traditionally trained by a togishi?

 

I would want to think so

 

You can see the previously mentioned Bizen Masamitsu is now very shiny in Sashikomi polish and sharp as hell. Unfortunately  too tiered to stand a place in a Juyo competition.

 

 Hi Dick,

 

That’s a nice blade with some history behind it. In my opinion, it should no longer be polished.

 

If you look at the hamachi (where the cutting edge ends at the bottom left) there’s not much left between the ha (cutting edge) and where the nakago (tang) begins. This can be an indication that this blade has been re-polished numerous times (or badly once). Compare the hamachi to the mune machi (opposite top). Notice how much more there is of the height of the mune. 

 

Second characteristic that struck me immediately is how close the hamon is to the cutting edge. There are examples of swords with thin hamon close to the cutting edge, but it can be argued that even these swords had gone through numerous polishes. Remember, each time you polish you remove material. Also, the closer the hamon to the cutting edge, the less strength the cutting edge has (same is true if the hamon is very wide; it would reduce the bendability of the blade, making it brittle). 

 

I also have concerns about the condition of the hada (flat of the blade) in the middle, just under the horimono (carving). I’m no expert, but that may be exposing the soft material or the core steel, though it is thought by many that horimono are added to the blade much later than the actual forging date to hide kizu (flaws), mostly hada ware. There are also ways a polisher can hide core steel, if it is exposed. 

 

Whoever gave this tanto the last polish either didn’t care about the carving or they planned on restoring that too, but never got to it or that the polish job revealed the blade to be tired and past a fresh polish. 

 

In either way, this is a nice blade. In my opinion, keep as is and enjoy what is left of it. 

[Tom Darling]

On 2/27/2022 at 6:42 PM, waljamada said:

Would love to hear about the great finds too...hope more stories/examples come out of the woodwork.

 

I bought the vast majority of my blades off ebay and I consider myself to have done well with the blades and what I paid.  So I had some "great to me" finds but nothing that would make a dent in the Nihonto world at large which is the kinds of stories I believe you're looking for. 

 

I'd even love to hear some garage sale great finds.  I would wager most of those tales would come from the 60's, 70's and 80's with a substantial taper down throughout the 90's and finally into the near nothings in the 2000's. 

 

Always described ebay as the world's largest garage sale and I actually would find those stories even more intriguing as it'sso very public, open to so many other knowledgeable buyers; if you got one that way, even more power to you!  

 

I read many years ago in the Token Society of Great Britain ,that a kokuho was bought out of Michigan at a garage sale for $60.00 and sold for over $100,000. Maybe someone can produce the kaji, as I forgot.

On 2/27/2022 at 6:42 PM, waljamada said:

Would love to hear about the great finds too...hope more stories/examples come out of the woodwork.

 

I bought the vast majority of my blades off ebay and I consider myself to have done well with the blades and what I paid.  So I had some "great to me" finds but nothing that would make a dent in the Nihonto world at large which is the kinds of stories I believe you're looking for. 

 

I'd even love to hear some garage sale great finds.  I would wager most of those tales would come from the 60's, 70's and 80's with a substantial taper down throughout the 90's and finally into the near nothings in the 2000's. 

 

Always described ebay as the world's largest garage sale and I actually would find those stories even more intriguing as it'sso very public, open to so many other knowledgeable buyers; if you got one that way, even more power to you!  

 

[Jussi Ekholm]

It was this tachi by Ko-Bizen smith Tomomura. You can read the story of by Jim Kurrasch from Rays site: https://swordsofjapan.com/tomomura/

 

It shows how business side of this hobby is often extremely harsh. The sword was originally owned by Yusuhara Hachimangū before WWII occupation and I believe it has not yet been returned to the shrine (I know they have 3 Bunkazai at present time). The sword was in Japan I believe late 1994, where NBTHK team (including Tanobe-sensei were able to research it, and it was the feature sword of TB 456). I am hoping the sword will some day return to Japan and the shrine.

[Baba Yaga]

Jim Kurrasch told it like it was. I got a kick out of his stories, he didn't care who thought what of him.

Like I said, a lot of people have a lot of trinkets "the community" doesn't know about.

If you look at it the right way, it's none of peoples business what people don't share.  

[waljamada]

This line from that article was pure gold:

 

"That friend offered him $300. The new owner figured it was worth far more than that. So he lost a friend and took it to a sword show."

 

I wonder what problems it caused the new Japanese owner...

 

Also found this compilation of Jim's articles on Ray's site:

 

https://swordsofjapan.com/nihonto-library/jim-kurrasch-articles/

[waljamada]

On 3/8/2022 at 3:37 PM, Tom Darling said:

 

I read many years ago in the Token Society of Great Britain ,that a kokuho was bought out of Michigan at a garage sale for $60.00 and sold for over $100,000. Maybe someone can produce the kaji, as I forgot.

 

 

Tom, this story reminded me of a collector I met who I know found some great swords that has been collecting since the 70's.  I visited him and saw so...so....soooo very many swords.  I call him sometimes just to talk and next time I ring him I'll ask him for some greatest finds compilation and share it here with his permission.  Always wanted to film an interview with him....I'll see if he'd be interested.

[Edward Mahle]

The condition of @DickH's blade you can grind that one haha just joking. That blade is not even remotely repairable. I guess if you were gonna try some at home polishing have the blade confirmed to be dead by a trained eye. At that point it's gone anyways so do what you want with it. The damage that can be done to a ancient piece of art by a amateur polisher is very underrated.