mas4t0

I always buy my supplies from the site I linked above: http://www16.plala.or.jp/katana-iimura/kiriteiregu-e.html I go with the Extra special : domestic "Kozo" I don't think the cost difference is enough to justify the use of lower grade niguiami. Abrasives in the paper could easily damage the polish, so it isn't worth skimping to save a few $. As for oil, I buy it from the same place, but you can also use pure mineral oil (the type you can buy from pharmacists in the UK). Choji is a mineral oil and clove oil blend. Mineral oil works just as well but it's unscented.

I use a kit from here: http://www16.plala.or.jp/katana-iimura/index2.english.html#Care tools This one specifically: http://www16.plala.or.jp/katana-iimura/kiriteiregu-e.html But I only use Uchiko on shinken (swords for martial arts use). They also sell the supplies and tools individually. Edit: Seth linked to the same kit, being sold by a different seller. It's a good kit, I'd go with whoever is more convenient for you.

I'll put you down as a vote for aesthetic appreciation.

I was so confused. I was in two separate hospitals for different surgeries and the nurses in the first were all beautiful, while the nurses in the second were assuredly not. I realised afterwards that their "beauty" was perfectly correlated with the levels of morphine I was being administered. I have some notes I wrote at the time, they're kind of surreal.

I think also that consideration of both proximate and ultimate motivation is important. By considering this ahead of time you can ensure that your collection (or any other aspect of your life) brings joy in the here and now and satisfaction in the long run. Point being, if you like something, if you enjoy it, if it's motivationally significant, it's because it meets an innate need. The issue is to establish what need is being met and if a given purchase will continue to meet your needs in the future. To bring this back to the topic at hand, consider the following: A sword could meet a need at any level in the above hierarchy, but only the finest examples will consistently meet the needs of the uppermost levels. For a samurai, a sword would be important to meet survival needs. For a homeowner, a sword could be useful for home security. For a member of a sword collecting community, a sword could help them feel a sense of belonging and could be a source of esteem within the group. For someone who studies swords, like many here, a sword could meet their need for knowledge and help them gain a deeper understanding. For an art collector, or someone who values swords aesthetically, a sword could be a source of aesthetic appreciation. A sense of self-actualisation could certainly be achieved by philanthropically repatriating a famous or otherwise important blade.

I think it is worth trying to get to the root of what you really want, as it'll influence your long term satisfaction. Do you collect for, or are your purchases motivated by: pleasure education prestige something else In the past I've spent a long time trawling and eventually I've bought something that I didn't really gain anything from, other than that it helped me feel like I'd achieved something. It was dopamine driven behaviour and I was seeking satiation instead of pleasure. I didn't feel "love" for the item, it wasn't driven by endorphins, the aim of the purchase was to satiate an urge and validate that the time wasn't wasted. It was the same feeling decades ago when searching for rare items in a video game. I don't like feeling that way, so I don't trawl anymore. I'd rather pay a higher markup from a dealer, or commission utsushi, than have some kind of compulsion. The neurochemistry of this was startlingly apparent to me a few months ago when I was in hospital. I'd been dosed up with opioid painkillers during surgery and when I came to, I literally fell in love with a cheap plastic water jug at my bedside. I knew cognitively that it was the opioids (synthetic endorphins) causing the effect, but I felt a stronger connection to that jug than any inanimate object I've ever seen before or since. Some understanding of psychology (including biases and the true agenda behind most self-directed study) and behavioural economics is worthwhile as these purchasing decisions are often emotional and irrational (not in accordance with the rational choice model). It can help develop an understanding (in advance) of what you want in order to have some idea of what effect the acquisition will have on your mood (in the short term) and your long term well-being. I find it best to establish early what you dislike so that you can avoid those things. Letting go can be hard. Even if you get back what you paid, you might feel displeased due to the endowment effect. There are many supposedly irrelevant factors (as per the economists' rational choice model) which have a huge effect on how you feel and are effected by transactions. Each example illustrates a behavior that is inconsistent with economic theory, but which I'm sure most of us can relate to (and rationalise).

With the sums involved, I just hope everyone makes sure their wives don't think they're keeping a secret second family.

Really?! I always make sure to get pre-approval from my wife of any big expenditure, lest she think I'm keeping more mistresses than agreed.

Just FYI, there's no mechanism by which heat rods can reduce humidity. As far as humidity is concerned, they only really help prevent condensation. A real dehumidifier removes water vapour from the air, usually through either condensation or absorption. The reaction between oxygen, iron and water involves water vapour, so can still happen with a heating rod present. The barrier layer of oil is providing the protection from corrosion.

Michael, What RH level and temperature are you maintaing? Do you have any info on what levels the NBTHK are maintaing within their display cabinets? It doesn't particularly matter, if you're oiling too, as you're maintaing a barrier layer over the steel; but for bare blades this information would be very helpful. I've never liked the idea of a dehumidifier in the room, and an unsealed cabinet with a bare blade, as the humidity you ideally want for a piece of steel is well below what's best for people. Additionally you'd likely need several dehumidifiers around the house, in much of the UK, to maintain those low levels; given that the water vapour will readily diffuse in from other parts of the house. Ultimately, to protect iron and its alloys from rust, the surface needs to be separated from air and water. Any means which achieves this will work.

That's ridiculous, I've never had anything like that happen. Did you get any kind of explanation from them?

Are the quoted prices excessive from the packers recommended by the auction house?

I don't remember the exact details of the stages and locations, but it is along those lines. Regarding the Customs Clearance fee: This is an additional fee we charge in order to clear your parcel through Customs quickly and pay the customs duty, excise duty and import VAT on your behalf. This allows us to cover the cost of handling the parcel, administration, collection of monies and provision of facilities for Customs clearance. There's full info on the ParcelForce site.

The ParcelForce charge is a handling charge on account of them precessing the item though customs for you. It's not a delivery charge, delivery to your door is already covered in the shipping fee you've paid.

I'm in the UK and wondered the same thing several years ago. The issue really is humidity. Steel rusts when it come into contact with water and oxygen – both are needed for rusting to occur. A shirasaya acts, in a certain sense, as a very localised dehumidifier and seals the blade from the external environment. I prefer to be safe, so I wouldn't risk displaying a blade in full polish outside of a sealed and humidity controlled cabinet. I haven't had a suitable cabinet built, and I don't keep Nihonto on permanent display as I know I'd stop appreciating them. Without fully controlled humidity, there's no way to be absolutely sure and there is some element of risk involved. I'm speaking of bare blades here. I don't see much point displaying an oiled blade. I would assume with an oiled blade that so long as the barrier layer of oil is clean and intact, it should offer adequate protection. There's a lot of variables though and in any case a shirasaya is almost invariably your best bet. It's not without purpose that the Japanese use shirasaya for blades and Kiri boxes for fittings.

Good find Pietro. I get the impression that it's been heavily buffed before patination. I fully agree with your assessment, and thank you for adding it here as it can teach us quite a bit. It does superficially appear quite good, and I think there's some hand carving on the face and to create the chest hair, but I think otherwise it's lustre is only skin deep and it would look a lot worse in person. The dark patina can hide a lot of flaws from the camera. I think it's estimate is on the money. It shows it's flaws more clearly in this image, which leads me to think that the figure was buffed and this area wasn't reached due to being sharply recessed.

Thank you for checking Adam. $35k including Bonhams buyer's premium, by my mental arithmetic, would put the hammer price at a hair under $28k.

I'm guessing the example above sold or is estimated at around $30k. Regarding the statue in the $5k-$10k range; I think this tier represents excellent value. Once you've bought a few of the tourist grade items, you've likely spent a similar amount. I'd assume that your spending on bronzes so far would have bought you one of these if consolidated on a single item. Hopefully the post above gives a very rough idea on what can be had for a given price. If things are being offered at a price far above the stated price brackets, I'd be inclined to avoid them unless there's a good reason for the high price. 2x is acceptable if you like the piece, 10x is excessive unless the piece is important in some way. I'm not an expert in any way and these are only my personal opinions. Full disclosure; I don't currently own any Japanese bronzes. I've seen a few quite nice ones in person at auctions, but I've never been the winning bidder and as such I don't have any on hand.

Derek, Why would you expect the steel to rust less if it has a smaller gain structure? My understanding is exactly the opposite; that a smaller average grain size will make the metal more susceptible to corrosion. Grain boundaries are like surfaces, and show higher reaction rates compared to the inside of the grain. The finer the grain structure, the greater the amount of grain boundary and the greater the level of corrosion. This is readily apparent during etching, where grain boundaries are etched to a greater extent, revealing the grain pattern.

Hi John, Definite orikaeshi mei.

Hi Brian, I'm sorry if what I wrote seemed completely off topic, I didn't realise quite how it read but did intend for it to be applicable. I do see a clear difference in quality between the statue in the first post and one further down in Alex's collection. The difference is in the chasing, so may not be immediately apparent for someone who doesn't know quite what they're looking for. I think the mould fidelity is similar, but the chasing isn't as well executed. Neither is hand carved, but the statue at the top appears to be better chased and filled than some other Japanese bronzes I've seen for sale. I've circled the relevant area to show the detail: This kind of thing requires labor to fix, after the statue has been cast, and can add significant cost. I'm not sure if this adds any value to the discussion, but I think I've at least clarified what I intended to say. Toes are always a good sign, a lack of pock-marks is also worth a premium, just as when selecting a wife. Additionally, a thick, heavy and dark patina can hide flaws (at least from the camera). To link back to the above video, you can usually tell at a glance the nature of the techniques used and thereby roughly estimate the man hours involved. I thought it worthwhile to lay out the process as it provides some anchors from which we can discuss further. Everything is somewhere along the scale between the two extremes, it's just a case of assessing how far along. At the low end, a mass market bronze from a Chinese foundry. These cost less than $10 to produce. The detail is quite good overall, especially considering the price, but the skin has severe acne scarring and dermatitis. Adam's would be in the region of $500 - $1k. Moving up into the range of $5k - $10k brings statues with significant hand finishing. Moving up into the $20k - $30k range brings finely chased details and gilt engraving. Maybe this visual representation is of some use.

I'm not making any comments about the quality of the bronze in the video, but this might illuminate the process somewhat and give an impression of the type and amount of work potentially involved after the piece has been cast: The workmanship of a high-grade bronze should be similar in quality to the workmanship you'd expect to find in menuki. But, rather than raised from a flat plate, the overall shape is cast in bronze.

@waljamada Nice collection Adam. As it's an analogue process, you obviously lose fidelity as you move away from the original sculpture. As with a VHS tape; a copy of a copy of a copy will retain much less detail and the quality of the casting is very important. I'd surmise the main difference between high-grade and mid-level work as primarily one of when the work is considered finished and differences in the fidelity of the mould. Most bronzes are considered finished after the metal-chasing is complete. Low-level castings often do a poor job of metal-chasing and mid-level do this stage properly. With top-end bronzes the chased casting is more often treated as a roughed-out sculpture, from which the artist (or an artist) carves the final work by hand. In this sense, even when part of a run, each casting of this type is an original work of art. This is codified in under French law, where the first 12 castings are considered original works. Article R. 122-3 of the Code de la Propriété Intellectuelle [Intellectual Property Code] stipulates that editions of sculptures limited to twelve numbered casts, including artist’s copies, are considered to be original works of art.

If you want to get your eye in on what a really good bronze statue looks like, in terms of workmanship, take a look at some Rodin lifetime casts. There are several Kokuho cast bronze sculptures. There are also plenty of exceptional ancient Egyptian examples. There's coffee table books available which show top end European and Egyptian examples, I'm not sure about Japanese. Very different art styles, but broadly the same process (lost wax) and techniques have been used across the world and across time. The best castings involve a high quality casting of an original sculpture, with high grade metal. They also require many hours of highly skilled labor to finish the piece, similar to that required for high grade tosogu. A top end bronze will, in my experience, be in the region of $300k regardless of whether Asian, European or Egyptian. Mass market prices generally mean mass market quality, in terms of the time and care taken and the skill of the artisans working on the piece. There are some old mid grade castings with a lot of meat on the bones. This one looks like an example of that. I wonder what it could become if it was taken to an artisan to have it refined.

A dry cleaner should be fine. If you can't find any that have experience in Japanese items, maybe look for one that works with fine saree. My wife has a number of Kanchipuram Saree, which are composed of multicoloured silk threads and precious metals (zari), woven into intricate patterns on a handloom, so they're quite delicate and its vital that the colours don't run. The fabric is finer, more delicate, and more intricate than any kimono I've seen in person. The price is quite low compared to a fine kimono, but bear in mind that the linked example is being sold direct from India, the labor costs are Indian and all you're buying there is the fabric. The saree is hemmed, but if your want it made into a skirt (lehenga) it requires a tailor and a trailer is also required to create the blouse (choli). There are dry cleaners who specialise in these items and as I recall, they use a silicone based treatment which takes several days. The results have always been excellent. Just an idea if you're concerned about taking it to a regular dry cleaner. I'll be sending my sword bags to the same people, when they need cleaning, but I haven't needed to yet. If you're not worried about colours running or fading, you can cold wash with a suitable delicates cleaner. All our bedding is mulberry silk (single colour) and is machine washed cold with a suitable cleaner. My wife has been doing this for years to no ill effects other than slight fading. My wife also machine washes Merino wool garments on cold with a suitable cleaner, to no ill effects. Other finer wools such as Cashmere and Vicuna are always dry cleaned; measured prior to cleaning, pre-spotted (particularly in the underarm area), cleaned in a gentle dry cleaning fluid and blocked to original measurements after cleaning. This is of course done by professionals, I only know this as I was curious about their process. I'm giving all this info as I have no idea what the fabric is and I'm trying to give a thorough overview. It obviously shouldn't be wool, but might be silk. You'll find more info here.