ebay A friend is about to buy a most terrible counterfeit for good sword prices, please chime in if you think its no good

[AntiquarianCat]

So I'm genuinely sorry to take your time with what's a low quality fake, but an old friend is about to get swindled out of enough money to buy a TH on this:

I tried to warn him but he thinks I'm fibbing, or not well informed enough to tell, since the seller (who I have kept anonymous) purports to have gotten it as a showa era sword from a deployment to Japan.  The sale does not allow returns and he's being offered 6000$ for it. I don't want to see people new to this hobby get burnt so badly that they quit. I know it's obvious given the poor geometry, non Japanese nakago and a litany of other problems but he seems to believe the seller's promises more than the red flags. I'm hoping that if some well regarded collectors chime in he will reconsider.

Thanks all, and sorry about the eye ache of a sword, I tried to compress the images so as little space as possible is wasted

 

 

PS: I'm sorry if some collectors briefly saw an ancestral blade gunto with a nice boshi, I accidentally mixed photos of a sword I'm considering with the counterfeit, the problem should be rectified now.

[Ray Singer]

Yes Juan, it is a fake. However you seem to have photos of an authentic Japanese sword with kaigunto koshirae mixed in with the images above. You may want to take those out to avoid confusion with those responding.

[AntiquarianCat]

Thank you Ray, I'm sorry about mixing up the photos. Should be deleted now. That's why my keeping all sword photos in the same file isn't such a great idea. 
I’m sorry I had to waste everyone’s time with this but I want to keep people new to the hobby from getting burnt.

[Grey Doffin]

Fake, 100%.

Grey

[PNSSHOGUN]

Fake and a scam, the listing should be reported as such.

[AntiquarianCat]

Sadly ebay doesn’t care, my friend was supposedly given a screenshot from ebay where they say they reviewed a complaint regarding this sword and found no evidence of rule breaking/fraud. The seller is waving ebay refusing to punish him over this matter as proof of the sword being genuine.

 

Thank you for chiming in, I’m sure he will reconsider if I show what experienced collectors think. I don’t know why but it seems the seller asking for a ton of money made him think it’s likely to be genuine. 

[ChrisW]

My condolences if he gets stuck with that abomination.

[PNSSHOGUN]

There can be enough evidence produced to get a paypal refund.

[vajo]

Worse Fake but i can't belive the story. The sword looks like a $100 Katana from ebay. There are thousends off 5k-6k Dollar offers for a true Nihonto in the web. So why he should be so fixed on this bad looking s**t? 🙃

[Brian]

Very odd, considering what actual beauty he can get for that amount of money. I mean that thing has ZERO redeeming features.
In fact, if you offered it to me for $50 and free shipping, I would say no.
Your friend maybe needs to learn a very hard lesson.

[Katsujinken]

You know what they say about fools and their money…

[Toryu2020]

What if we think its legit? Just kidding! Tell him to run away!!

[oneshot onekill]

Not that it's the case here because even as a total Newbie I can see this is being misrepresented. But Ebay generally has a "Money Back Guarantee" even if the seller does not take returns. But a vaguely worded description (like the one in question) and a seller who is not willing to admit he was wrong will negate Ebay's involvement. I've had to use the money back guarantee on a "no refund" auction but fortunately the seller was a good person and it went smoothly.

   

[Bruce Pennington]

About half of the Swords listed on proxy bid right now or fakes.  Centurion auctions and Donnelly auctions.

[Andi B.]

Wait - someone is willing to spend thousands of dollars for a Ferrari Testarossa and thinks this piece is the real deal...???

[lonely panet]

anyone who spends that kind of money without obtaining sufficant knowledge prior is a fool