Rivkin

Yes, though only one mekugi survived. Habaki is definitely local, its stuck unfortunately and I am yet to hammer it off. Its a massive blade, I am surprised they opted for such narrow suguha.

I appreciate directness of the responses. One of the books on investment I've read suggested setting up a training account with 1,000$ total expenditure cap. Why not just simulate purchases and sales? The argument is that the sense of ownership is a great motivator to study companies. More so with swords. An expensive motivator, but a substantial one. The danger of going to a sword show is you have a feeling you must purchase something to justify the time and expenses, as a newbie you show the blades to ten people who reply "where you got it" and then some become very enthusiastic about this prospective purchase... because yes its a social event. With all the consequences. Sword shows expose you to very many very average blades and if you don't have the resistance build in there is an urge to find some hidden greatness there. And frankly you would be much better off with either of the two blades being shown than 95% of the stuff you see at the show. Its a great place to look at blades, and if you are very experienced it can be a great place to buy, but if you new and want to make a purchase.... I would suggest looking at these two blades in real life by flying to Japan, visiting couple of other stores, since there are plenty in Tokyo and making a purchase. 6 million yen budget justifies that.

It is a strange sword in a sense that first it has a lot of honest wear. All copper parts are visibly flattened by repeated contact, leather is also clearly affected where it would have contact. And be default the leather covers the entire surface. Second, it does not try to imitate gunto but rather being inspired by it. The collars on tsuka and saya have unusual motifs, with war fan but I would say clearly "Namban", continental stylistics. The nakago is rough finished, but the blade is actually quite good, pardon not the best pictures. Its suguha, there is tight and clear nioi-guchi (its in zero polish), there faint bo utsuri (???), the forging appears to be strongly masame influenced (which is not unusual for the continent). 30 inch nagasa, hira-zukuri with unusual but well done naginata-like thickness transitions which are not exactly Japanese, iori-mune. Any ideas where it comes from?

I always have issue with studying and learning before buying, because paying tuition is something that makes a lot of difference. And always like to be a bit contrarian-controversial. It took me a year of owning and studying some blades to realize their potential or my understanding of them. DTI. Prices are Tokyo retail. You hear about great deals from people who make a living buying there, adding 25% and selling worldwide, but to do so you need to have clientelle and established brand. Selection. I still remember my first DTI. After three days I became convinced - there was only one A+ blade. TJ Shintogo. Amazing piece. There were at least nine Rai Kunitoshi (later ones) in suguha which were mostly boring, some great tosogu, typical Shinkai (yes good, but typical), some other stuff. I think there was signed dated early Yamato tanto but again, signed but jigane was sort of rough. Hiromitsu, not the best. The idea that you'll see Sadamune, or first tier Sa - its possible, especially if you go there for years. At the same time you can walk into Sokendo with an introduction, ask for two great Sa blades and you'll have them in front of you in 10 minutes. There are quite a few collectors who can do the same. So, why DTI? Its like I constantly hear "Ultricht, Ultricht", but why? Ten TJ on a table? Twenty?

Its a very personal thing, but: This is very good Iwato and overall good Ichimonji. Restrained, without choji going to shinogi or crazy utsuri, but very good dense jigane and very good hamon and good condition. I like Sa school better in general, but the shown example is average for the school or slightly above average. Very good jigane, some activity within the hamon, but nothing groundbreaking.

Its absolutely impossible to tell without seeing them. Iwato kantei means either it has suguha sections or it is very late yet Ichimonji rather than Kozori.

Sword museums in Nagoya and Toyama are top grade, TNM in Tokyo has good but small and rarely updated display, and selection at Tokugawa museum in Nagoya is ok. Otherwise it has to be tied to an exhibit. Castles, most historical museums by default have subpar selection. Swords in shrines on display rotate and one might end up watching a blade in zero polish. NBTHK runs exhibits quite often, there are collections like Kurokawa institute of ancient cultures which constantly travel and can be seen somewhere (its a good one). There are many places which have a few interesting pieces like Kasugataisha in Nara, museum of Art Neuveu in Kyoto, but its like three or four pieces of primal interest. To the point I would not normally look online and check "oh, this place has swords, I'll visit". In Nagoya I would go to sword museum, Tokugawa, possibly Atsuta and if one likes castles - travel to Inuyama. Its small but has character. There are clubs which have very strong showings though - kokuho and such.

There are Masamune and Sadamune signature in oshigata, but at least some of these blades would certainly be flagged as gimei. Ken is great, even in such horrible photos. The tanto is unpleasant enough. It would provide a link to Masamune's hocho, but...

Jigane is probably very attractive itame. I love Sa hada and it should be a good example of such. The work seems to be very homogeneous, not tired, pristine, without kizu. However, Sa hamon is choji always tends towards ko nie or even nioi. It is a very attractive shade of nioi, but on the blades I really like this is further accented by strong nie activities. Inazuma, patches of nie along the ha, strong chikei. I think this blade is more towards just ko nie. Still very attractive though.

Exciting? Three days without a sleep, lots of caffeine, 20 seconds during which blood seemingly covers everything, puzzled people in hospital being told its a cooking accident for a jackass youtube show. Paying extra for a blade that went through this.... Hmmmm.

I hope the gentlemen could enlighten me regarding what exactly am I missing. Because I see an obviously crazy Kunimitsu signature with a sloppy execution. Love the middle line in Kuni. The blade itself my be not bad. Not much can be seen and nagare does exist on Kunimitsu blades but here its a bit too strong. Ryokai, later generation, Zenjo Mino earlier generations and other similar guys are worth considering. Boshi, detailed activity photos can tell which is which. What am I missing? No kidding, I often make mistakes and would love to learn.

I would start with "light" version which is kirikomi... for me definitely plus, but for some plus only if documented, connected to important historical figure etc.. Kill marks - there are plenty of rifles with notches, and its cool, but without documentation I personally don't pay extra just because its notched. But definitely not demerit. If there would be a legitimate "notching" on swords, yes I would consider those a premier grade collectibles. And yes, I would expect a lot of those would be upper-mid tier working blades like early Yamato rather than Ichimonji... Not because Ichimonji is unsuitable for battle, but its premium is connected with aesthetics rather than function, and it was more or less the same way 700 years ago. I sold long ago the sword I used for duels and do not have particular attachment to blades used for executions... but owning something with five notches would be great.

I used to believe in donating items to museums when convinced its one of a kind, unique artefact whose loss would severely affect our understanding of the subject. Anything below this level frankly should not be even considered. And even this being said - my experience is to postpone donation until the very last moment. Because there is always a chance somebody will start building a collection dedicated specifically to such subject and you already donated the crown jewel of it to a place which simply keeps it in storage.

Kamakura can be weird in terms of nagasa. Nothing really seen here, but it can be ko Mihara or ko Hokke interpreted by seller as "late Kamakura". Theoretically.

Its uchigatana most likely slightly under 2 shaku or around 2 shaku. The signature is nijimei which is a bit unusual for a Bizen name, and Nagamitsu is unfortunately a Bizen name. Its placed not at the ridge but between the ridge and the backedge, which would hint towards koto. The nakago condition is anything between 1500 and 1670. The blade tapers and curves, so we can exclude Kambun. The problem - there are no late legitimate Nagamitsu generations, its tachimei on uchigatana, which is almost unheard of. So its gimei. Unless its a stellar blade otherwise - its not very much, at a show 500-750$, on ebay probably 800-1000 or whatever you'll get for it. It might be that the blade is some legitimate Bizen Sukesada from the late Muromachi.