Rivkin

Its an interesting fact. Sorry for the doubt, but is it certain the certificate (not the short working paper) says exactly mumei Nobukuni (Shodai) and not for example mumei Nobukuni and then either era (Enbun) or (Nambokucho)? I've seen NBTHK papers of the later type but not per se Nobukuni (Shodai).

Certainly looks like Edo period and can be Kambun-shaped (1660-1670). I will be frank saying the quality is most likely average.

Rephotographing kokuho will not happen unless the effort is championed by maybe one notch below cabinet minister level person. After years of maneuvering I've shot seven. If I would have any museum position maybe it would have been like 11. So - stock photos, 15,000 yen for small print run per image, 1-2 images per kokuho, 3 million yen for the existing pictures. Plus the printing, plus the mandatory 35-45% which retail networks will take... 100-120$ can be about right.

By default with a bit of sori and narrow mihaba it seems Muromachi, but I second the previous request - nakago in full, flat would tell much about what it is.

I don't know, would I be able to see everything here just holding the blade under random overhead light with someone breathing down my neck. This being said, photograph is like polish... I can make photographs that are very technical and border on oshigata or those that focus on blade's brightness and first impression.

Love the work, feels shinto, don't know whom the signature refers to.

So which shrine do you place up high? Katsuga Taisha, Atsuta Jinja, Omishima Oyamazumi?

Another question which I always pondered: Is seeing a detailed photograph of work, hataraki, enough? Or you would prefer to see the overall image, or both are important? Do you get much information from overall images? Or you would rather say its important to see photos of works of the same maker to study the variation? How many would you think then is enough? Two Go? Five?

No problem, I am a grumpy old man who likes niche photo topics. Collecting communities have many bubbles. Each believes whatever happens, it must be inside theirs. One is always centered around 1-2 major dealers, and its always the most visible one. But then there is a museum bubble, which considers outsiders as dangerous uneducated idiots, old collectors bubble, people who pretend to be collectors bubble etc. etc. etc.. Sometimes they are in the same city and have no idea others exist. That's probably what contributed to stories like Go is as rare as ghost staying alive for so long. I had to check for Yoshifusa, I don't think I have him specifically. Sukezane, a few others. Soshu is relatively easy to photograph, and most Yamashiro is also ok, but unfortunately Bizen can be exceptionally difficult depending on polish etc., so with this level Bizen blades its basically booking the whole day for like 4, maximum 6. P.S. Crypto-oriented fund managers who professionally erased much of their online presence and stopped soliciting outside investments in 2022. Yikes.

I don't know why this turned into a place to discuss Go. There is an issue that he uses two different styles which can be also be mixed to one extent or another, but so do many, Norishige has itame works, Sa has two types of jigane, etc. He is relatively well defined, plus-minus, whether his name was really Go and what exactly are the dates involved are probably unsolvable questions... There are could have been two people - one with characteristic clear bright nioiguchi standing out against most Soshu works, and the other one to whom one would assign all other works, but its all both possible and elusive. Interestingly enough he tends to be rather distinctive from Norishige, so what kind of influences and relationships were there, is not perfectly clear. Its certainly not the hardest to find work photography-wise. Definitive O Sa can be much more of a challenge. It is a popular work among "younger" collectors, including certain Russian circles, from crypto-guys who run around sanctions to outright war criminal crowd.

As a photographer I often wondered, If one could request 10 high resolution well made photographs of any swords, any smiths you named, what would it be? My own short list of undershot smiths was: Sanjo Tomonari Awataguchi Hisakuni Bungo Yukihira O-Sa Masamune Umeta Myoju Eventually I shot them all but it has been a Challenge. And both Yukihira and O-Sa images did not turn out well, and I don't know if I get another chance.

The signature has sort of correct appearance, but reading it on lazy photographs taken at random angle instead of nakago lying flat down... hm... It feels authentic though.

If rumors are true and apparently they might be... I surely hope they will start mentioning it on TH, but given their conservatism I doubt they will - and I fear this will create quite a few headscratching TH where you have no idea where exactly this name and not some another came from.

Thanks, it was a fun and interesting blade, I did not realize jifu utsuri applies here.

You want something vicious with wide mihaba and o kissaki. Its understandable, those are indeed beautiful. In this case its ok purchase. The work is actually decent, I would take it as being better than average Sukesada noname of the time, the polish is good and crisp, you will not make money on a resale, but its a reasonably bright, appreciation-friendly work. Koshirae is well balanced stylewise. If you live in the US you might consider submitting this blade to NTHK NPO, they tend to be more Bizen friendly on such style, you'll get most likely Bizen Sukesada as an uppraisal. NTHK is also likely to return Bizen name, but not as likely as NPO. That ofcoarse all my personal opinions. Dotanuki is quite good work, but its a waki and its unfortunately high priced.