Alex A

Be aware you might scuff the blade using another old saya.

What Thomas S said. No other points to make. Rinse Wash repeat.

Think folks are being too pedantic over this. If a Samurai had a different katana and a wak with different koshirae then i guess it could simply be he liked them the way they were and didn't consider changing anything necessary. One sword may have been handed down, a gift, stole one, who knows. If on the other hand he was having both swords made new, then it makes sense he would have matching daisho koshirae.

Just posted a tanto off to the US with UPS.. As for descriptions. Online, you get 2 to fill in, one for the packing label which can only be short and a rather lengthy gap for the customs invoice which lets you go into great detail. The label description being short, your kind of limited. Having attempted to follow the "non vague and accurate" guideline then the best i could do there is "Japanese artwork tanto", followed by a more lengthy description in the customs invoice which included "traditionally forged cultural artwork by such and such, made from steel and in wood sheath, year 2007" , along with the customs tariff number. Had a few issues this time with their website and the pick up where they totally ignored my scheduled pick up time of no earlier than 2.30 pm as i wasn't home from work. Yesterday, waited all day with a no show so i called them and they said they arrived earlier than anticipated and apologised. Rearranged for today and they show up at 10.30 am instead of the agreed 2pm. Luckily off work with a cold so didn't miss them. Had a bit of a moan to the driver who just apologised and said they were busy. The other issue, their website. It didnt like to keep the information with the booking. I could not retrieve my online filled in customs form so had to print a PDF off their website and fill it out by hand. It does state when you print your package label out that they require 3 printed customs invoices. I called UPS and they were not much help but did say the written invoice should be fine. The call centre is in the US, i think they struggle with my accent. Last time i had no problem printing out the customs invoices, i should add. Anyways, info put here for folks that may want to use UPS, hope it helps.

Yes, there are swords with no gold inlay, just inscriptions. Also, gold inlay picked out of inscriptions. Fake inscriptions You need this book Tameshigiri - The History and Development of Japanese Sword Testing: Amazon.co.uk: Sesko, Markus: 9781312327030: Book

That's good news Marcus. Hopefully a learning curve for folks to do their homework before a purchase. I guess most of us have done it at one point.

Hi Derek, no, would just leave it alone. As mentioned above, its observable. I didn't mean it was a disaster or anything, just that the polish looks like it could be better. Many blades out there that have a polish that could be better. Some dealers known to take short cuts and cut costs with polishing blades, as well as owners.

Its a very difficult to answer, from images. You mention shiny. I'm concerned there is something amiss in the nio-guchi that don't look like its polished correctly (the way it blends, unsubtle). There's a polisher from Oz that sometimes comes here, he will be the guy to ask. Id say its not polished correctly, but that's from images. Actually, from the vid, I'm sure its not polished as good as it could be. The word harsh, springs to mind, Guess it all depends what you can live with.

Would be asking someone in Japan to call them, sure there are guys here that will help out. Just wondering if the buyer is in the UK and the dealer having shipping issues. Seems to me like they still insist on using EMS which will end with a return.

Kirill, are you referring to comments made above as "shaming" If so, would disagree and if anything i have said is insulting to the OP, then it wasn't meant that way. I would call it a REALITY check. We were asked our thoughts on the little that was given and replies given accordingly. From what can be seen above, it really is like looking for a needle in a haystack, as Jacques mentioned. Saying that though, glad it has papers so at least the owner does have an answer, even if opinion and not definitive. Cheers.

Your perfectly demonstrating the issue with a blade with no name. You can obviously match a blade to a smith by studying comparisons but there is still a but. One of the issues is that if you look hard enough you will find very similar blades by an whole bunch of different smiths Especially Sue-Bizen and names mentioned above.

Why not Norimitsu?

What John said, i was just wondering what the odds are.

Maybe that's a way out of the sale as it was described incorrectly. Well spotted Moriyama san!

Don't forget, that's just my opinion above. We see Sukesada mei from various Sue Bizen Sukesada that look shoddy but have papers. That one looks a step too far. Nothings real clear from those images. I cant say any more than with what's available i would have passed. Others may have differing opinions.