bigjohnshea

Jacques, Here are the only two photos I have of it now. I am waiting for more to arrive. It appears to be Shobu Zukuri, and I'm afraid I do not have the dimension of the Nagasa.

Thank you for your advice, Veli. I will be happy just to have it cleaned up and in my collection. I have a slightly off topic question: I have read the opinions of more knowledgeable men than myself, that there are no more swords by Goro Masamune to be found. Has every sword made by the man been accounted for already? Is there no chance others could exist? Why would this position be held by dealers and collectors? Here is the reason why I ask. I never used to believe that things like "one of a kind" collectible items existed outside of museums and private collections owned by billionares; that was until one day I bought a rare book at an estate sale which was printed during the late Renaissance. I had bought it because it had an original pig skin binding that was very ornately decorated, but I had no idea who the author was. As it turns out, this book is the collected works of a well known Renaissance philosopher, and as far as any professional I have consulted with can tell me, there is not another one like it that exists. My point is, I learned a while ago that the world is not so large that it will prevent truly rare and beautiful things from ending up in the hands of fools like me. :-)

Thank you again, Chris.

Chris and Paul, Thank you for the advice. Given the content of Chris's response, I suspect I should have just been clear in the original question about what I was dealing with. Please chalk that up to my lack of overall experience in this realm. I recently bought a wakizashi from a reputable dealer that is a Soshu school blade, and it is signed Masamune. I have not been collecting for more than a few years, but I have been reading up enough to know that Masamune's signature is the most forged signature in this business. I honestly have no real reason to think this is a true Masamune, but the blade is pretty badly stained and I have had it shipped to the polisher who will polish a window out of it. Hopefully we can get a better look at the details of the blade when that is done. I will be happy with having it in my collection just knowing that it originated from that school, or perhpas from the Kamakura period, but I do intend to submit it to shinsa. The only reason I'm having the window polished right now instead of the full blade is because I'm currently restoring another blade, and paying off another blade, and don't have the money for it right now. It has been suggested by the seller, who is well known in this arena, that I should remove the mei before any submission to shinsa. They were not however willing to make any statements in favor or against the possible authenticity of the mei, particularly given the condition it is in now. My gut reaction to this suggestion is that it would be better to get the blade ready for shinsa, and submit it with the current mei, and if they reject it as a gimei, I will kiss my wasted money goodbye, and resubmit with the mei removed. Given this new information, would you suggest another approach? Many thanks for you time. PS. I suspect this may be a story you have all heard an amature collector recount in the past, so please feel free to tell me that I'm just being a total newbie and should hit the road.

Dear Sirs, In your opinion, if you have a sword with what you suspect is a gimei, should you remove the mei before shinsa, or is it better to risk failing shinsa and then resubmit if need be with the gimei removed? I only ask because it seems like it would be a shame to remove a true mei when you are uncertain, and in doing so possibly do more harm than good. Thank you for your time. Hope you are all having a great weekend.

Grey, Thank you for the recommendations. I will contact them both after my tests tomorrow. I wondered myself what would be the reason for not wanting to give me the polisher's name. Perhaps it is simply that they have a working relationship with him and do not want to have others interrupt his availability for their customers. Here is the link to the webpage where the sword was purchased. http://www.samuraisword.com/ They appear to be a small family owned company that both collects and sells Japanese swords and antiques. The person I have largely been in contact with is Tim Pepin, and he has always been very fair and expedient with me. Thank you again for all your advice and help. I will keep you informed of what I learn in the future about this sword, and its progress through restoration. Have a great day.

Grey and Nagamaki, Thank you for your additional insights and advice. The "reasonable fee" for the polishing service that I was given is $1500. I do not think that this includes any work to the Nakago. I never thought to ask about that. I have read that modifying a nakago is sort of like forbidden territory, and I assumed this included previously modified ones as well. I felt that 1500$ was a fair, but not a terribly undervalued price. I have paid 1800-2100$ before for polishers to work on new blades that came in Binsui polish, but I don't know if 1500$ is a fair price for a restoration or if it's just lower because this company uses that same person for the bulk of their work. Atleast that is what I have been told. The company was unwilling to give me his name, but they offered to send samples of his work. Once I receive those samples, I will try to post them here. If any of you have the time to give an opinion of his work once I have images, I would appreciate your further insights. Does anyone here have the name of one or two polishers they trust, who I could contact for their opinions? I wish you all a pleasant Monday. As pleasant as Monday can be.

Thank you, Franco, for your insights. Do you know of any reasons why this nakago would have been so crudely cut short? Perhaps a reason that would be fitting to the era it was supposedly made in? I recently received what I think is a very reasonable fee (given the few times I have worked with polishers) for restoration of the polish alone. I will do as you suggest and inquire with this polisher about his thoughts concerning the potential for submission to Shinsa. I buy swords because I find them beautiful and meaningful, not as an investment, and so my interest in finding the origin of the sword is purely for the purpose of granting the school or smith the credit for what I hope will become a beautiful part of my collection. The condition of the Nakago does not bother me personally, so I suppose I fit into the former of your categories of collectors. Thank you again.

Oops, most have missed that. Apologies.

Yes, John is my name, I just use bigjohnshea because it has become my username for most things that require a login ID. Thanks again for your numerous insights. Cabowen, I will PM you on Tuesday or Wednesday for more info. I am a medical school student and have some tests coming up that I need to focus on. Once they pass I will have a semester break and I will endeavor to get more information from you. Grey, thank you for recommending the link. I will utilize it as soon as possible. If you or anyone else has a moment, and wouldn't mind sharing your insights on the sword I have purchased, I would appreciate hearing them. There is a link in the first comment up above. Many thanks.

Thank you both for your time, and for sharing your knowledge. I'm still very new to collecting swords, and this is my first antique Katana purchase. Hope it was a good one. :-) All my other purchases in the past have been from celebrated American Smiths who, in my opinion, take the same pride in their work as I suspect the current and older Japanese Smiths would. I will look forward to learning more from you folkls here. Have an excellent Sunday!

Hello, I posted this in another forum that does not seem to be well populated, so I figured I'd repost it in a busier place and hopefully get an answer. I'm hoping someone can point me in the direction of some solid/real resources (online or otherwise) that can tell me where the NBTHK Shinsa take place, when, how much the actual fees are for the process, and what relevant details apply. I have done numerous Google searches and found various forms of info that don't all add up. That's really the goal of the post. Everything below is just elaboration. Recently I bought a Shinto era Mumei katana from a reputable dealer who had it on consignment. It is well stained and has some scratches, but the blade appears to be very tight, unchipped, tip is great, the hamon is just visible beneath. The Koshirae need a lot of work too, and unfotunately the tang was chopped off at the second menuki hole for whatever reason. I got it fairly cheap, and I figure it will need a few years and a few thousand dollars worth of work to get it back into some condition that would resemble its former glory. I'll be happy just to have this sword in good condition and in my collection, but if I can get someone in a Shinsa to identify the smith, it will be nice to be able to attach the name of the smith to what will hopefully be a beautiful blade. I'm also shopping for a polisher so if someone is interested in some work in the near future, please message me. He's the sword: http://www.samuraisword.com/nihonto_c/4 ... /30/30.htm I started looking into the process of Shinsa, and I'm not getting any clear understanding of what the real process is. Some older websites imply there are NBTHK Shinsa held at American Token Kai events, some websites say that Shinsa are only held in Japan. Some say that it costs 75$ to submit a blade to an American Shinsa, and 75$ for the Origami if it passes Shinsa, and others say that the Japanese Shinsa costs hundreds of dollars just to submit a blade, a 500$ deposit in case it passes Shinsa. Then, if it passes Shinsa, the Origami may cost thousands depending on the level of rating given. I also can't find any information about when upcoming Shinsa are taking place, how often they take place, and which ones are legitimate Shinsa because there are small organizations (like collecting clubs or kendo schools) that hold their own Shinsa which are obviously useless to a collector who wants to get an Origami that could attribute the blade to a smith. I'd appreciate some direction on where to get legit information. Thank you for your time.