Cello

The seller states the date is 1573 but I cannot make out the mei from these pictures.can anyone make it out who is better at translation then I am??? Thanks-

Doug I will definitely post them. Last gamble I made on ebay turned out to be Amazu Masakiyo student gendiato, which I will be reselling soon if anyone is intrested....I'm probably pushing my luck by its the only gambling I do these days lol..

I will definitely post some pictures of my own as soon as possible... Just looking for any thoughts anyone may have.....

Thanks grey ill only see the two kanji..I think???lol

Thanks for the reply's guys..

Thanks all......I'll be sending this one off to david Hofine to see if it can be saved.....

Can anyone tell me if this mumei katana is koto or shinto??I was thinking it's a koto by the patina and the seller also mentions that it has a punched anna and not drilled .....

sorry about that I should have previewed it ill fix ASAP thanks

can anyone give me some help with this tsuba translation/school??

I can't get a good idea of what this reads anyone have better eyes then me?

Does anyone have an opinion to weather or not this is a gimei Kaneyasu??It's not done in reverse kanji like my other nor is it in the same style.It definitely seems to be a later smith then the shodai I have posted last year,,,,,

Yes I've noticed the decline in value of complete polished blades but have noticed a up tick in sales of blades in need of TLC or in lesser states of condition.I'm more into collecting old historical items this one was a gamble to make a quick flip and a learning experience.So I may just resell the sword with the newly learned information and the knowledge gained while hopefully making a small profit :D if possible!

Many thanks lance and Chris...!! Chris you always come through for me on the board your a wealth of knowledge I appreciate your help always! So would it be fare to say I should send this to polish if I find no ware??. The Mei definitely looks as if a teacher signed the date and the yakumo. Do you know what the I on the mune means if anything??

ok so I the blade out had to split the Tsuka to get the jammed blade out not big deal so I d believe the seller couldn't have removed the blade and wasn't lying as some do on ebay.I certain he could see the lack of rust on the edge of nagako which is why he assumed WWII and sold it with out dismantling the saya...A nice surprise for the offer he accepted on it IMHO.So here it is!! any help with the Mei I seem to be having trouble again Hira.....???......Yuki...??

I'm a gambling man lol.... The seller accepted my lower offer so I will have an answer shortly!He does offer 14day return so if it falls off I'm sure he will take it back,as he has a good feedback history....

John that was going to be my next question..Does the presence of the tobiyaki indicate traditional methods?The nagasa is 26" do you know if there was a standard size for gunto mounting?It seems they are 24''-24 3/4" ,Iknow there are always exceptions but was wondering if there was a general rule of thumb??

Anyone care to venture a guess with the two not so great photos I have of this katana to weather it's oil or water quenched??I can't see the dark peaks of an oil quench and it's too poor a photo to see nie/noi...... Any opinions would be great(other then post a better picture LOL)............Thanks

Yes george that definitely helps,I really appreciate the detailed and informative reply.This is the feeling I had about the blade myself but wasn't sure if it was oil vs water quenched...The hot stamp isn't deformed thats just the angle I shot it at. As of the finger print thats a little bit of forensic evidence left by the previous owner ..lol

Here are the close up pictures....I did do a search but I'm still not sure what exactly I'm looking for in the Hammon and or hada??Also would the nagako commonly be finished so carefully if it were a machine/mass produced blade?

I will post some close ups as soon as I can. What should I look for to dissern wether its oil or a water quenched blade??

I thought the arsnel stamp just means that it was accepted by the arsnel?

Can anyone clairfy if this sword is a "gendaito"and traditionaly made? I found alot of conflicting information on this topic.I posted and excerpt below from nihontocraft.com which indicated it may be but found numerous other posts to the contary??? I believe the smith is Kanenari1751 any information would be helpfull Introduction "There is booming interest among sword collectors towards gendaito in recent years. Gendaito made in the Mino area represent a large number of gendai we have seen in the west. This article provides a list of some of the best Mino gendai smiths. It's intended to be used as one of the tools for gendai collectors to distinguish the better-made blades from the run-of-the-mill ones. This Mino gendai list is by no means to be complete. It only covers smiths active before and during WWII. Since these works are more commonly seen by the western collectors than those made by smiths became active after the war.......Kanenari, 兼成, Kanenari saku, Seki ju Kanenari saku, Noshu Seki ju Kanenari saku, Navy smith, decendent of Shinshinto Goto Kanenari, student of Watanabe Kanenaga's forging institute, He was born in March Taisho 15.........The rest of the smiths, 14 of them, were all rated as 1 million Yen in Tokotaikan. " (http://www.nihontocraft.com)

Sorry I was confused.... I've been working late . There is only the one character on the sword. I will post better pics as soon as I can. Thank you

So Martin , your saying Kane is the top character correct? Any guess on the other ...? Thank you for your help

Having trouble again...is this one charceter or two..I'm thinking form of tomo?? which im sure is wrong lol...