Another wakizashi for evaluation

[Nazar]

 

The same seller that offered me previous gimei wakizashi popped again with a new offer. It's another wakizashi. The thing that makes me dubious from the starter is mei. It looks like two last "kanji" were added by an inept person. Yet I am interested in your opinion on this wakizashi. Also it's an evaluation of the seller. I already formed my opinion on his being some shady personality with dubious lots for sale. 

 

[Nazar]

[Nazar]

 

These are the only available pictures. I processed the photo of mei to make it more visible and to position it in an appropriate way. What I was able to make from first four kanji is: "越前国住". Yet I am not sure if I am right or wrong. 

[ROKUJURO]

Nazar,

if I had doubts about an item and the seller, I would not think of a purchase.

[Rivkin]

The koshirae I think is ok, there is some damage to tsuka, but by itself its actually well made, this is the end of Edo.

The blade is probably shinto. Yes, the signature is weird since the last two kanji are very differently spaced compared to rest and poorly written. As if someone was reading a template where he is familiar with the beginning, and then like "oh, I need to fit the rest of it somehow".

[Infinite_Wisdumb]

Agreed, $500-750 for the fittings and consider the blade for free

[Nazar]

Jean, 

 

I completely agree with you. And that mei looks to be a big red light by itself. Yet I was curious about the thing, so I created the topic. So to say, for educational purposes. 

 

Thank you Kirill,

 

I wonder if that was crude attempt to make it look like the blade has something to do with Echizen Kanenori.

 

JM,

 

Alas, I am living in a country where Japanese blades tend to be overpriced. Like I regularly see prices of 3K USD for showato. Never have seen them actually sold though

[Rawa]

8 hours ago, Rivkin said:

The koshirae I think is ok, there is some damage to tsuka, but by itself its actually well made, this is the end of Edo.

The blade is probably shinto. Yes, the signature is weird since the last two kanji are very differently spaced compared to rest and poorly written. As if someone was reading a template where he is familiar with the beginning, and then like "oh, I need to fit the rest of it somehow".

Please check kojiri. One big crack [all around]. It almost fall off. 

Bad seppa pushing kozuka. Looking like seppa are misplaced.

Kogatana is a modern replacement? Samegawa is in parts.

I wonder how bad is saya junction. Overall I would expect more nicks and dents as this piece is so much beaten. Gilding looks strange.

Green background reminds me of one particular yahoo seller.

[Lewis B]

I'm not an expert but my gut feeling is that the last 2 kanji were inscribed at a later date by a different hand (see the kanji for kuni). Not sure why. The yokan-iro has developed to a higher level on the other kanji affording some protection. The lower 2, especially the penultimate were likely chiseled later, thus exposing the bare metal to corrosion and red rust took hold after the work was completed. IMHO. 

[Alex A]

2 hours ago, Nazar said:

 

Alas, I am living in a country where Japanese blades tend to be overpriced. Like I regularly see prices of 3K USD for showato. Never have seen them actually sold though

 

 

Understand your issues, as the UK can be pretty limiting.

 

Its better to save your money than be dragged into such a market and better to save for something good then go all out impulse power on something you will want to sell in a month or two.

 

Such mediocre swords are not worth the ownership and the hassles of re-selling and shipping.

 

Good swords can be got relatively cheap if you know what your looking for, know where to find them and have some patience.

 

Im not talking ebay or Yahoo

[Nazar]

Marcin, many thanks to you!

 

As soon as I read your message (the part about the background),  I remembered that I already have seen this particular background too. Only on the local internet auction.  Then things clicked into place in my mind. Some time ago I called some guy from Kyiv who put an ad about selling Japanese dress sword and navy dirk (dirk fittings had mismatched parts). It turned out that the dress sword was already sold but he told me that he could bring another one as his daughter lives in Japan. We had some conversation, and some of the things he mentioned made me think about the "shady seller" who offered me this very wakizashi and that previous one with fake origami papers. So I became curious and  mentioned wakizashi with fake papers and at this point I noticed the change in his tone and then he quickly became "busy" and finished the call. Now I checked some current lots of this person and they have the very same green fabric for the background. 

 

So the "shady seller" and the "person with a daughter in Japan" are clearly connected. Now I know the source of Japanese blades and I believe the scheme is simple and as old as humanity: buy the cheap thing, then sell it as luxury. 

 

If you have some links to lots of that yahoo seller, it would be interesting to take a look at them. 

[Rawa]

I could have sworn that I saw exact same setup used by seller from hungary on ebay. He offered mostly beaten up pieces. Maybe reseller? You should be strict about offers and it isn't really worthy to put money into headache. Im sure saya have more to tell.

[Rivkin]

It was at one point common for some yahoo sellers to simultaneously place items on ebay and shill bid them higher in case if they get actual bidder + there were americans who were trying to sell active yahoo items for a considerable buy it now price, knowing they will most likely be able to buy it on yahoo if they have an offer on ebay.

 

Is this a beginner piece? Sort of. Damage, etc., but I do think at least the koshirae is a proper late Edo piece, some portions are nice, kozuka... I don't know if its modern. Usually with modern pieces you see so many copies on yahoo it easily registers, this one I don't know if I've seen it.

[Nazar]

Lewis, 

If take into account the story with fake origami papers, I wouldn't be surprised if the last two "kanji" were chiseled in Ukraine. 

 

Alex, 

Thank you. That is exactly my plan: stay calm and wait for opportunity. Yet, thanks to the people from this very board, things like this are quite educational. They also make me wonder if there is a limit  when it comes to forgery, fakes and assemblies.