Brian

I suggest you research Heian swords. You will see there is not a single remote resemblance to this thing. You don't even have to ask us, just look at how they were made, what they looked like. What the fittings looked like...consistently. We don't need to tell you any of this. You can see it for yourself. You won't find a single sword in the evolution of Nihonto even close to this. Not one thing. You have some of the world's experts here on the forum. Which you seem to be ignoring. You have people here involved in the society you are talking about. You have authors here, museum curators, very high end collections. People who visit Japan multiple times a year to study Japanese swords. Not a single one will give even one tiny vouch for this. Or even contact you privately to find out anything. The NBTHK won't respond. This will be a joke to them.

You realize that Japanese swords have NEVER been made by layering? Never in the history of Japanese swords were there ever layers....never mind the fact that you can never, ever, work out how many times a sword was folded. That ONE single comment proves this is fake. Layering is a fake idea that people who know nothing about Nihonto use as a term because they do not know how these swords are made. The folding is used to remove impurities, and the steel is worked to remove these and incorporate the metal. You don't get layers, especially ones that can be measured. Hada is very, very different to layering. Oxford certainly does age tests, for their own research. They do not, and never have...done it for external items and then issue certificates. Call them yourself. Your certificates are fake, your item is fake. And there never was...ever....any "golden eel" Does not exist, never did. It's a term used for one of the life stages of a current (very much thriving) eel life stage. At this point someone needs to tell you to wake up!

I seem to remember waaaaay back...maybe 10+ years when something like this came up here...possibly the same item. Was being valued in the East Bloc for millions and was a clear fake. There was a group/syndicate behind it....some elaborate company using auction house to legitimize it. It was a total fake item. Wonder if it was the same. You can say what you like and argue as much as you want, and insult as much as you want, there is not ONE person on this entire forum or in Japan who will even give this 1 minute of their time. It is so far from reality that it is just absurd. Have to go find that other thread from way back, almost the exact same story and fake "certificates" on something that doesn't resemble any Japanese sword that ever existed. It's not even like there is plausible doubt here. It is so obvious as to be absurd.

I suspect both certificates are completely fake, and had nothing to do with either organization. In fact, neither template exists for either of these organizations, and the wording is just bizarre. Plus all the Japanese fonts mixed in with English. High level fakery here.

Afraid there is not one single thing here that bears any relation to a Japanese sword even remotely. It is so far out of real as to be comical. Nothing intended as criticism, but they are insane if they came to that conclusion and I would question their testing methods or even their basic knowledge. It does not have even the slightest chance of being anything real. I don't even see anything Chinese archaic there.

Why are we generalizing about dealers in a question about one? Just disrespectful. Please start a new topic if you want to generalize.

Ray, Awesome books. But does need to be noted that there are 2 Japanese volumes making up the set of these books....you are missing the other Japanese photo one. Then there is a rare additional volume with the English explanations, and that you do have there. So half the 2 book set, plus the additional volume. Worth checking out there what's available, as I daresay this will affect value and they are out there complete for considerably less. Sorry, but needed to be mentioned.

Not going to allow this. Dealers are what the name implies. I won't allow vague and unwarranted insinuations based on nothing.

UK members...when you next import a sword, don't forget to ship a protractor and a calculator with it. * Sigh *

Likely does. Would be illegal otherwise, if it wasn't a Nihonto. And although they have issued some Torokusho to Showato, I don't think there are many fake swords slipping through. Nakago has been greatly altered though. Fittings are genuine. Just an oddball.

@Peter D is one of our members, and also has dealer status here and his own dealer section. Being approachable like that, and the fact that dealers don't get listed here or last long if they are not reputable, tells you a lot. Good to check on any dealer you are considering purchasing from. A listing here is always a good sign.

There you go again. Everyone agrees there is nothing cast about this. But you pop up and persist with some idiotic theory in spite of the fact that the only people who made the claim are an ignorant auctioneer. And you wonder why you get hounded. Sit back down. There is nothing cast about this tsuba, and if you knew much about tsuba, you would see it.

A version of Kataochi gunome?

Getting close to the price I pay for a return airfare to Japan Probably easier to fly there, have a decent sushi meal and fly back with it.

I think it's just field made. Could easily be wrong through.

Then we get accused of censoring any potential future "findings" or evidence. Nah, leave it to slowly bury itself.

Thank you Alex, much appreciated.

Nazar, would be very happy to host the files. In fact, maybe I can even set up a section in the downloads section for 3D modelling files that are Nihonto related. Although we all know traditional is preferred, there are still lots of useful tsuba stands, sword stands, other tools etc that are useful in this hobby. Perhaps we can slowly start a library of them.

Didn't want to move it from there completely, as it's a vital part of that section. But I can move threads and leave a "shadow" topic that will redirect to where it has been moved. Was going to get that done in a day or 2.

Well done, looks good to me. A nice outcome. 3D Printing can turn out some very useful products. I'm sure you will get requests if you want to print and sell a few, or share the files

To me, it resembles one of the well known horimono done during wartime, sometimes seen on Gendaito and wartime civilian swords taken to war

Best to make a new post in the Nihonto section, so we can discuss the sword itself as well as the horimono. We'd need far more pics, including the nakago and blade etc. To me, it resembles one of the well known horimono done during wartime, sometimes seen on Gendaito and wartime civilian swords taken to war. But let's see more and take it from there. Edit to add: I see you have a discussion on it going here: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/52406-can-anyone-help-identifying-this-blade

Well done guys! Absolutely jealous. Fantastic organizing as always. My only hope is that work sends me to SHOT again in Jan, then I can see some of you again in Vegas. Thanks for the update Bobby.

So you worry about the ramblings of one single person who is known to be that way? You must live a very cloistered life if you worry about what a solitary clump of pixels says on the internet. Suggest never leaving the house. C'mon man. Ignore him like the rest of us do.

His browser wasn't loading the "capcha" below that question. Probably hasn't updated it in a while. That's why I always recommend trying a different browser. Since they are free, on my own pc's I always have Edge, Firefox, Chrome and Opera installed. You'd be surprised how often I have to use different browsers for different reasons. Glad he came right.