Brian

Huge thanks guys, to you all, and especially Marius. You guys are the reason we can do what we do. Payment received from all the above. Marcin, I keep all the Paypal in $'s in a balance. Withdrawing in SA is complicated and expensive, so I keep it in $'s and make sure all the hosting etc I take accept Paypal, and I just use it to pay bills. Never withdrawn any, it pays all the bills directly and in $'s. Paypal would screw me bigtime if I withdrew, they make money on everything including their fees they take to withdraw. Bad enough I lose fees accepting all donations. Thanks guys!

Well done, looks awesome.

Since there were no other bids on it, and it's a fundraiser rather than a strict auction, I think we can forgive late bids

VERY bad fake....one of the worst and most prolific of the Chinese low end ones.

Awesome!

Just the usual one that slips through the cracks...lots of this happening. The law remains, but no-one is looking to make waves, so people with the right contacts get stuff done. Nothing unusual about it. Price is due to the low number of registered/legal "Showato" and the low availability.

Good to have you back Joe! Hope things are stable and going well. For the record, there are a WHOLE lotta guys here that will vouch for Joe

Nice control over the hamon there.

3 Dots....click share...copy link. Easy.

Or different prices for different groups of people No, not implying Westerners pay more, but maybe frequent customers get a break, or export has a premium for the hassle etc.

Grey is OG as far as the Nihonto world goes. You can take what he says as Gospel. Is the tsuka break clean? Do the edges go back together cleanly? If so, anyone with some time could glue very carefully, and press together in a padded vise, and it would likely never break again. Tap repeatedly on a plastic cutting board or something to see if you can dislodge what's in there. Or get someone at a local gunshop or doctors office to scope it with a bore scope. Or even X Ray it. Dentist's office?

I absolutely love my Norisada. Some excellent work, and I remember reading on a site somewhere how highly regarded he is. Definitely one of my keepers. Unfortunately my nakago took a lot of rust or wear at some point, as it almost looks Koto, but enough remains that it was readable.

Congrats Manuel! Being recognized even with Nyusen means your work is accepted as traditional and of a certain standard. We all wish you congratulations.

When I look at this, I get an immediate feel of wartime Showato, the nakago emphasizes that. It's not so much a "because of this and this and this..." but a general gut feel you get over time. I honestly think this is wartime and oil quenched, but could be wrong. The thing to look for is nie and activity. That said, oil quenched still comes in many forms, there are hybrid construction methods that are in between, forged and folded but from mill steel, or semi handmade or a bit of both etc etc. So it could easily be one of these, and lately it is not unusual to find them in Japan, with torokusho...sort of a "don't ask, don't tell" thing that is becoming more prevalent.

Deleting the pics renders this thread pretty useless. It would be nice if you would upload at least 1 or 2 pics of each here directly. Not because anyone thinks any less of someone with fakes, but because it may help someone down the line looking at something similar. We have a nice reference library growing here, and I am sure we have saved more than a handful of people from wrong purchases.

I think he lists on Facebook, low value quick movers at very good prices. They sell in minutes. Nothing fancy, but very good prices. The Japanese are masters at pushing common or average stuff out to the Western market. Stuff that battles to sell there, but we snap it up gleefully. Stuff like mumei wakizashi, gimei stuff and out of polish project blades.

The tsuka is the handle...don't see a break, where is it broken? The nakago is the tang....they has snapped and is now shorter. But it doesn't render the sword dead. It still displays fine. The chips are large, but if they don't go through the hamon, then it isn't fatally flawed, just ugly. You could easily put it together, follow Grey's advice, and have a nice and genuine display piece.

Average wakizashi, not a huge name, so honestly doesn't really matter if gimei or not, you're buying the sword here, not the name. Looks like a decent honest piece. I wouldn't worry too much about the name on it, it's not one that will likely be professionally polished and submitted for shinsa. So enjoy it for what it is, a genuine wakizashi with untested mei.

Think of it this way too....the more support we receive, and are able to pay for the upgrade and hosting, the less chance I'll have to look at horrible things like advertising or paid services here. So you guys are helping everyone at the same time :-)

I would say almost certainly coral. (The fruits, not the eyes)

I was thinking nagamaki, I wrote naginata. Oof. Losing my mind a bit lately, been burning out busy with too many things. I need sleeeeeeep.

I think if we can lure @k morita in here, we'll get our answer. Holding thumbs.

Some awesome stuff, and I bet prices are decent. Man, wish it were easier to buy from the UK Btw, does someone want to tell them it's a naginata, not a Nagasaki https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/tooveys/catalogue-id-srtoo10562/lot-1c8ac754-b1a3-4f3f-9b1e-b42000e12482

Yokoyama Sukesada?