dkirkpatrick

New collectors are so fortunate as the knowledge available is light years ahead of what was available in 80’s-90’s. My first sword was a Type 44 NCO that I couldn’t figure out there was a second mekugi so ended up unwrapping ito. Turned out to be a machine made Showa dated blade with a hadori hamon, made it hard for me to see this nie/nioi and “hada” stuff the books would talk about. Second sword again Showato with real hamon but oil so again hard to learn anything. I was lucky enough to run into Andy Quirt at a hotel buy and although he lived about 4-5hrs from me he graciously invited me to look at swords on different occasions but were often pearls before this swine until I had done enough homework to appreciate what I was looking at. In my defense, the later 90s had books with better pictures and of course the internet changed everything. There is little replacement for seeing many swords under learned eyes (something I’ve only done in limited fashion) but I have attended a handful of the major sword shows and if you live in the US and claim to want to learn about Japanese swords there is now excuse to not make this happen. Even if you are not able to purchase anything many will be gracious with there time and information. That information allowed me to be able to pull a Hankei and a Satsuma Motohira out of the woodwork-longs ways from my dad Type 44 but what a journey. Doug

As with all antiques, you should buy what you like as you well may end up being the proud owner for a while. If something really sings and resonates with you chances are it will with others and should still be salable down the road. Buying purely with the idea you’ll be able to sell for same price or “worse” profit can lead to disappointment, can’t go wrong getting things you love. Doug

Can’t argue with the price certainly! There’s quality and there is “art”. A beautiful oak chair can have beautiful quarter sawn striping great style and design, and be shaped just like a Gustav Stickley but if not from that shop it’s just a high quality reproduction even if done somewhat contemporaneously. Irony is probably a good smith so why didn’t sign their own name, certainly other “unknown” smiths didn’t feel the need to use gimei? Interesting questions, anyway nice piece! Doug

I understand wanting to bond with history. That said, should we fire an original Brown Bess flintlock, I mean, that’s what it was made for? Low power loading, should be fine right? Sure, but black powder gets places and unnecessary wear/damage can occur. Sad when you could have gotten same experience from repro.

Maybe goes without saying but no rust removal or cleaning, this could be a very important sword. Hopefully it gets the proper eyes on it and attention. Please keep us posted. Doug

These were not razor sharp, geometry looks appropriate for arsenal blade, leave as is or it’ll hurt the value. Doug

Additional if unrelated question; what would the value even be if polished to a reasonable hitasura with saya and hozon to unknown Soshu smith? I can’t imagine it’d be a lot more than the cost of all of that, fair argument that there is value in a nihonto saved notwithstanding.

I saw this too, I said nothing because I didn’t want to embarrass him. Doug

Not to hijack but this raises interesting question; how many trained polishers are there worldwide? It seems like anyone with any type of reputation has a wait list measured in years, how long can one expect to wait for a polish on a decent quality blade e.g nice mumei Shinto or a gendaito (assume able to use habaki but new shirasaya these days? Doug

Always thought it was strange that gaku mei and orikeshi mei occurred implying value in preserving the smith’s identity, yet most osuriage didn’t get this treatment or even bother to re-write the smiths name. Also, I’ve always found it strange that it was considered a better solution to file the taper of a nakago and drill a new ana to make it fit an existing tsuka. Surely there we enough talented folks doing tsuka-maki that a new one that fit perfectly could be made expeditiously. Just my long held musings. Doug

Gerry, I absolutely see the similarities you’re seeing and in spectrum of Kotetsu gimei this is pretty darn good but just start at the top and the first few kanji, then just at general flow. Also, the visible quality of hamon is telling. That said, this was a very time consuming thing to execute requiring a higher degree of skill I should think so guessing it was made as a gift for someone important. Doug

Feel like this might read Morimitsu, would be nice to see in same light as the ura. Doug

Also, auction houses in general will low ball estimates a bit in an effort to stir excitement at the possibility of getting a bargain. Doug

Someone on Facebook said their father was offered these swords for $2800.00, were they getting them from you? Just seemed weird. Doug

Hard for a young collector? I bought my first swords back in the late 80s/early 90’s. Seems like I was paying 300 for wakizashi and 500-600 for katanas, all out of woodwork mind you, not polished/papered. There was a time when you’d be glad to have something half this good at this price even with major flaws just to study. So the perception that this sword as presented for 1000$ in 2024 is anything but a fantastic gift just boggles my mind.

I love the sugata, looks like a very strong stout sword. I know not in polish but what you can see do think jigane/hamon/boshi supports such an attribution? I feel like the mei flow is really good but hard to ignore Jacque’s adroit observations. Can you tell us more about the work?

The sugata leads me to think this isn’t anything earth shattering but as has been said for a hundred euro. I would think the tsuba alone would be worth 75-100 to someone.

I see nothing but showato. No real jigane or nie I could discern anyway. Doug

This brings up an interesting topic. What is to be done with swords like this (and worse) that don’t even come close to justify polishing time and money? Are there polishers in Japan early in apprenticeships that can work on these and even if not finished at high level, appropriately conserve these and bring out at least some appreciable aspects within a reasonable time frame/cost? Guessing much of this work would also have to be done on synthetic stones as I suspect it’s not cost effective to expend the finite supply of natural material. Not really expecting a clear answer just wondering in general and about what may be done with some of the lower tier items in my own collection. Doug

Thanks for the kantei Jacques and as always the enlightened conversation. I didn’t weigh in as I thought I recognized this blade from the Kotetsu/Kiyomaro book and didn’t want to spoil the fun. Doug

Guessing this is an older blade given the non-metal saya and type of leather cover, looking forward to more pics! Doug

Clive, Sorry if that’s what came across. My point was simply that as first Nihonto purchases go this was a great 1st study piece and while he may find it difficult to realize trade or sale value relative to what he paid for it that it still has great value in what he will have learned from it. Many worse “first Nihonto” stories out there. Doug

Like Kirill said, many possibilities here and probably difficult to say without being see in hand. O-suriage swords like this may not be the best “investment” but when you buy solid in-polish examples they can be a great way to see hada and hamon activities that you will read about in your studying. Nice sword!

I’m sorry to say but I don’t believe this to be Japanese. The blade geometry and the tsuka -ito don’t look right nor does the fit of the fuchi. It’s possible this could be cobbled together somehow but I’m guessing the nakago will prove this to be non-nihonto. Hope I’m wrong. Doug

Ujifusa?