Newbie is close to buy his first sword

[AndreasU]

Hi gents,

 

first of all I would like to introduce myself. My name is Andreas Unterbusch and I am 40 years old. I would like to start this wunderful hobby due to the situation that I liek the "art" in a real nihonto sword and because I already have seen some nice swords here in my company from a collegue of mine who collects these swords now since mor the 15 years.

 

So he found this for me:

 

 

The price should be around $3.995,--. So what I heard is that Minamoto Amahide wasn't a high ranked smith by John Slaugh but he failed in the past as he also said the Yasukunito smith are low quality

 

So I did some research and had a conversation with the seller and he said that it is true that Amahide wasn't the "best" smith but this sword was one of his verey best ones and can easily be compared with other higher ranked swordsmith.

 

I like this very active Hamon and I think if I have some money left a new polish maybe brings out more details. But for the first time I will keep it untouched. It is in a good quality WWII koshirai and also has o mon on it.

 

So, can someone help me out if it is worth to buy this sword as the very first one ?

 

Cheers

 

Andreas[/img]

[Stephen]

I seen that on Big Mo's site, IMHO its just ok but a bit pricy, four a few dollars more you can do as well as this first time buyer.

 

http://militaria.co.za/nihontomessagebo ... f2aa5fce81

 

there is a wide range of Amahide this looks to be a better one, thats a pro a con is it needs some work to the tsuka and maybe a touch up polish...id shop some more if it was me, but then again its you, follow your heart and learn learn learn...it will led you to your sword. see this link for a sale of Amahide and what it went for about a grand less.

 

http://militaria.co.za/nihontomessagebo ... php?t=1236

[AndreasU]

Thanks for the Info,

 

I am in deep discussion with him and we "adjusted" the price a bit. He will do also a complete Tsuka wrap for me.

 

send me a PM and I will tell you the price and would love to get your thoughts. But in total you would agree that it is a good and real gendaito for a beginner which has some potential to sell it in several years once I am more used to it?

[pcfarrar]

It's not bad for the price, especially if he sorts the tsuka out. Amahide made a lot of poor quality blades, including showato. This looks like one of the much rarer better blades. I think Slough is quite correct in his appraisal.

 

You could consider the Takahashi Naganobu at nihonto.us

 

http://www.nihonto.us/TAKAHASHI%20NAGANOBU%20KATANA.htm

[Ken-Hawaii]

Hey, Peter, I'm looking at that Naganobu myself!! Just waiting for my wife to say "yes."

[pcfarrar]

Hi Ken, Good choice! I think thats one of the best deals around at the moment.

[AndreasU]

The Takahashi Naganobu looks nice as well but is above my limit.

As a friend of mine says everytime "you have to judge ach sword by its own merits" and the Amahide one looks nicer for me and there is a story behind this sword.

 

I am working in a Japanese company and one of my Japanese collegues did a bit a research for me and even if it is a bit pricy I think on long term view it is a better invest than the Takahashi Naganobu.

 

Thank you all for your support

 

Andreas