Alex A

Sad news indeed, my condolences to his friends and family.

You can buy long metal drinking straws for peanuts. Tape one end to suction hose on vacuum cleaner=turbo sucker. lol Everything else been said, might work

Thought the same thing Bazza, i would be wary

No doubt, without any problem and with papers it would be twice the amount or more. I looked at this sword a while ago, got the impression that Aoi was speaking about the lack of boshi, hard to judge from the photos.

Hi Juha, I agree about breathing on swords, try to avoid, wipe with a clean cloth afterwards. Wonder how we would go on with one of these, just a thought, think some folk use them. https://www.heamar.co.uk/magnifying-lamps/60352-daylight-d25040-deluxe-led-magnifying-lamp-xr-5022737250409.html?gclid=CPbP94jt3NICFdUV0wodwCwDTw

Cheers Bazza, remember now you mention it Think my memory is on the way out, the guy told me the mei when i bought it, but i could only remember "Tada", then had start again

Cheers Jean, never seen it done that way before.

Can someone please confirm "tsugu", this ones new to me, unusual shaped nakago and Maru-ish type mune. Neatly chiselled mei, cant see a "tadatsugu" being a gimei, obscure smith maybe? Wakizashi, not in full detail polish, but Hada and hamon visible, latter part of Edo period I guess.

I too thought there may be a twist to this exercise, thought that maybe some Naoe Shizu (or preferably Shizu as i should have put) smith had a great day on the ranch one day Still, happy to be in the ball park, great exercise, we should do more of this kind of thing. Thanks Darcy.

Naoe Shizu school

Nothing much to add to the above, nice healthy blade. Nakago shape and width of 3.3 cm (quite wide) was another factor.

I cant work out whether you like the suriage work, or you saw it as a bargaining tool

Kunisada, Kanbun

Hi Derek, your sword? Joking. Being Ebay, perhaps a better title would be "possible bargain?"

Tutankhamun had a dagger from meteoritehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/01/tutankhamuns-blade-made-from-meteorite-study-reveals/ Clueless as to what the outcome of an art sword would be using a nickel iron meteorite, folk have used meteorite iron for weapons and tools etc in the past.

I was thinking what Dave said, fewer folds.

A lot of collectors must think this

Slightly biased, but Hizen Tadakuni Konuka hada with deep gunome-midare. Why, because I owned one and wish I still did, beautiful hada full of ji-nie and hamon like clouds.

Hi, not an exact science, but if you look at whats left of the sword, you know the era, look at the sori etc, might be able come up with a decent guestimate, Odachi might be tricky though, read some were massive This general guide to blade changes comes in handy sometimes http://www.yamakawadojo.com/the%20japanese%20sword%20historical%20changes%20in%20shape.pdf

As mentioned, a good sword will always be a good sword, signed or not signed, signature is a bonus. You might find parts of this thread interesting http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/9068-why-mumei/

Edit, me getting wires crossed, all is well Cheers for clarification Brian.

Where does this notion come from that there is becoming less interest in Japanese swords?, pretty sure Brians number of members increases by the year, am I wrong?. Lots of interest, just not lots of interest willing to pay a small fortune for a sword, for many reasons. Check out Ebay sales of swords around £450-£1300, business is bustling. I agree about shipping issues, bit of a concern. All English speaking collectors/enthusiasts read whats said here. If anything is going to put off new collectors, its talk of falling prices, shooting oneself in the foot. As a point on pricing, don't see any evidence of this on Aoi (as an example), prices have remained consistent. The only prices I see falling are the prices in the sales section here, think maybe its become expected. Have we become delusional on pricing in our NMB world I enjoyed what Peter had to say about collecting in the "good old days", wished id been there, all feels a bit "spoon fed" these days, with so much info available and papers on tap, so to speak, but I suppose it has its pluses

A few images from the book at the bottom of this thread, a great book that that can be difficult to get a hold of, Muromachi http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/19524-fuchi-kashira-from-1550s/ I see Grey has one available at very reasonable price!

Plenty of swords out there Mike, bit of a learning curve, can be tricky buying online looking at photos, you need to be 100% sure of what you buy.

Pictures are bad, but nakago does not look too "old" to me, ww2 with some build up of rust would suit.