kolhoznik

I am in Georgia and I would probably attend.

I was going to buy a katana about two years ago but I am glad I decided to wait. I did a lot of reading on this forum and other places and saved my pennies. I just now made a first purchase and I'm very glad I waited because I can appreciate what I purchased a lot more and this board introduced me to sellers I could trust (thanks Mark Jones!). A katana is an expensive purchase even at the low end that I could afford and a little patience will be time well invested.

That coin in the center of the dish is worth a few hundred dollars. It is a Chinese silver dollar minted in the early 20th century during the late Imperial or early Republic period. These were minted by province. That alone would almost have paid for the auction.

I can tell you that the Stacked Cannonball stamp blow the tsuba is for the Tokyo Arsenal.

I'm going to have to start working third shift here in the United States so I can be awake for these deals

Does anyone know of any Nihonto sellers who are having any Black Friday / Christmas sales either currently going on or will be happening in the near future?

Merci Francois

I have not used buyee before. Is it comparable to ebay or a complete free for all?

Seconds please if the sale falls through.

Does anyone else see flea bites in the edge of the blade?

Thank you Hawley

Peter, If you do have a site with pictures of the swords please post the URL. It would be very interesting to me also to see these blades. Mike

Also during the warlord era in China several Spanish companies made c96 look alikes that had almost identical external appearances but had some internal mechanical differences

After looking through swords in the catalog many of the descriptions say a sword is attributed to... does this mean that these swords are papered to the particular smith or that the cataloger is just saying what the mei reads?

I for one have found the comments of collectors who are more experienced than myself to be helpful. It helps me to train my eye to see what is good about a sword. Also the comments have helps with understanding pricing in the nihonto market.

In my few months reading this board the folks here are some of the nicest and most knowledgeable in the subject.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/254621564212

Yes SAS please send me some more info

Christian that is a beautiful example. The price is a little bit out of my first blade budget though.

I have got some pictures of the nakago. Does all seem good where that is concerned? Also if anyone can read the kanji I would much appreciate it. Mike

Which issues are the ones dealing with Japanese swords? Mike

Thank you to everyone who has responded so far. It has been a big help. I have asked the seller for some pictures of the nakago and I will post as soon as they arrive. I am doing a lot of reading but would always welcome more good titles to look for?

I have been interested in the Japanese Art Sword for some years and I have recently become serious about making a first purchase and would like it to be one I am happy with and don't start to hate later. I come from a coin collecting background so I appreciate the need for research before a purchase. The more I read the more I realize I need to learn so I was very happy to come across this site. I came across a katana that I thought might be promising and worth consideration as a purchase and would welcome some feedback before buying. The tang is signed Nobukuni Mitsumasa and the year 1779. I believe that would be Hawley MIT127. Regretfully I did not get a pic of the tang, but this is the information given by the seller. The sword is in shirasaya and is in good polish. I could not see any major flaws. Would this be a good starter blade? If so what would be a fair price? -Mike

Thanks to all those who answered my post. The information was most helpful. I did not purchase the sword as I had a suspicion it was arsenal produced (now confirmed to be Seki). The store is asking $2600 so it will be a pass for me and I will keep looking and learning.

Even though this sword is non-traditionally made is it still made by a smith or is it just stamped?