UK best places when looking to Buy

[Mawcat]

Hello everyone, I have always had an interest in militaria. I am looking for recommendations of good places to buy, preferably in the uk. I have in the past suffered from buyers remorse and since I'm working on a limited budget cannot really afford to buy a wrong un. Looking at £3 to 4k. Can anyone point me towards honest dealers.

many thanks

[Alex A]

Hi Mick, what you after?

 

(shameless plug)I am selling a signed katana with Tokubetsu Hozen papers, nice koshirae and shirasaya, for £4k, nicely polished in Japan. I definitely doubt any dealer in the UK will have such a deal. If interested check the sales page below.

 

I am in the NW and your welcome to come see it if your interested.

 

All though obviously, depends what you are looking for?. Also, you need to be very wary when buying in the UK, ask someone with knowledge before you buy. Personally, prefer importing from Japan than buying in UK. I got tired of sifting through swords without papers, overpriced, unpolished or crappy polish, gimei etc. Not saying all are like that, just the vast majority i have come across. There just isn't a broad range to choose from regarding smiths, always comes across as a "take what you can get" market. 

 

The best deals you will get from private sellers. Maybe worth putting an advert in the wanted section here or ask The Token society about private sales there.

 

Will say some dont like the hassles that come with importing, which is fair enough.

 

Also,  sure others wont be as negative as me.

 

Ps, your not the only guy in the UK to have suffered buyers remorse, your in good company.

[Pincheck]

The UK market seems to be pretty difficult at the moment. The various government bans have made selling and importing difficult. I notice Aoi Art no longer ship to the UK. Many of the general militaria dealers aren’t very knowledgeable and there are very few specialists. It can definitely be a case of take what you can find.

 

The To-Ken Society are definitely the best people to talk to. You occasionally see something turn up on sites like Sally Antiques or the militaria dealers but that can be a mine field, caveat emptor definitely applies. If you dip a toe in that water you need a high level of risk tolerance and/or a great deal of knowledge. 

[Alex A]

As far as i know, Aoi still ship to UK through OCS

 

Also, UPS ship antique swords, asked them the other day. That was out of the UK to the US, my enquiry.

[Pincheck]

Not any more. https://www.aoijapan.com/regarding-sword-shipments-to-the-uk/

[Alex A]

That is sad to read, thanks for the heads up.

[Mawcat]

Thanks Alex, great looking sword, have sent you an email. Thanks as well Jack. At the moment  I do worry about the UK market, not just for Nihonto, I have always been into classic motorbikes and while bikes do sell people seem to be much more careful before they part with any money, myself included

[Alex A]

Some of us are into bikes here too, Mick, me included, there is a discussion in the members area below somewhere.

 

As for the general antique dealers and the online gun sites that have them. Its rare i use the term junk, probably got sick of seeing swords with vastly altered weird nakago and Chinese wall hangers with prices like 2k on them. Who knows though, maybe a diamond in the rough on one of those sites one day, but i for one are less than willing to sift through it. On the whole, stupid prices aimed at people that have not done their homework.

[charlesf]

Mick,it depends on what you are looking for,are you looking to buy an antique sword,a WW2 gendaito or a WW2 military sword?

Are you looking for papered blades,fully mounted blades or out of polish blades with potential?

We've all had buyer's remorse,I get it all the time when my auction purchases arrive and I discover something that the auction house has not noted in the description.

The joys of online bidding!

Might I suggest going to arms fairs,I used to visit and also take stands at midlands fairs 30+ years ago,the London fair was also good but I've lost track since moving to t'frozen north.

 

Regards,

               Charles

[Mawcat]

Thanks for the replies. I bought the Katana from Alex, fortunately we live fairly near to each other and he agreed to bring it over so I could have a look . Very knowledgeable and helpful and the sword was well described and lived up to my expectations so no buyers remorse ha ha.

The saya has some old repairs (that I knew about in advance) which I think could be improved, so I will post about that at a later date to get opinions on the best way forward cheers

[Alex A]

Hi Mick, only just seen your last reply.

 

It was very nice to meet you and no doubt we could have talked for hours about swords and bikes. Pity i couldn't have done that trip on the bike as some beautiful scenery around your way.

 

Regarding the repair to the saya skin, im one of those that likes to leave things alone unless something is missing or absolutely falling apart. I never used to have this kind of acceptance, think maybe its come from seeing too many dodgy re-wrapped tsuka over the years etc. To me, I guess its just part of its history and never really give it a second glance.

 

Out of interest and may assist with my opinion, was looking at an old flintlock pistol the other day from the Napoleonic era, regimentally marked. There was a repair to the front of the stock under the ramrod, a brass plate. It was an ugly but common repair back in the day. Years ago i would have hated how it looks, now i wouldn't bat an eyelid, actually quite like it. Just a part of its history.

 

Anyways, as said, we all look at such issues differently. I guess with you being an artist and probably having a bit more knack on how to maybe improve it then that would explain your view.. I did improve a gun stock a few years ago but that was within my knowledge and was kind of a preventative measure to stop a crack getting bigger.

 

Guess it all depends.

 

Cheers, great meeting and talking with you and glad its gone to a good home.