Alex A

Manners cost nothing, remember that new collectors are a rarity. One day we might want to get back what we have spent, a task which will be made more difficult if there is a dwindling number of new collectors and lower values. A phrase that springs to mind. shoot oneself in the foot 1.(idiomatic) To act against one's own interests; to unintentionally behave self-destructively

Katana Mei looks like "Hiro Yuki". Edit, didnt notice you already had it.

Especially damp stone surfaces

I know a few folk who are doing well on Ebay at the moment, all importing from China, cheap bronze statues etc

Same place as my trousers Stephen

Its surprising at times what folk will buy. Theres probably a wife or girlfriend looking at this tsuba now thinking "my boyfriend will love that, he likes nihonto and rocks from space, perfect," I best warn her, il will tell her the usual slippers will suffice :D

My sentiments exactly Mariusz. For anyone who may be interested, be aware that meteorites need special attention, they can oxidize rapidly. I find the notion of mounting this tsuba ridiculous.

This is a new one, the last one I seen was a bottle opener made from a slice of Brenham Pallasite (stony iron meteorite). If I remember correctly, that one was priced at $16000. Folk make all sorts from meteorites.

Im interested in how you would put a value on a blade such as this?, taking into account that it could have been made by a reputable smith and there are folk who wont be put off if the price is right. On another point, im looking at how the sword was re manufactured. Rather than just reshape it the way it was and hope for the best, wisely they squeeze the hamon to an hardened point, a new mini boshi. A page you have all seen, but a bit on counter shortening at the bottom of the page. http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/suriage.html

Looks like its had a recent polish so someone sure thinks quite highly of it, maybe not for an elite collection, but has its place.

Ive just noticed from looking at the picture of the tsuba that the coins are huge, possibly commemorative coins, not sure. (pics have now been removed)

Compare the Chinese coins to these similar Japanese coins from around the late 1600,s to early 1700,s. None of the Chinese coins show much sign of ware. As for patina, difficult to say from looking at the pictures but does look false, id be tempted to give them a miss.

Signed. Hizen Kuni Tadayoshi, if im not mistaken, stating whats obvious to some folk, i may add

Very nice Alan, if im not mistaken, the fuchi looks to be lacquered also.

I take it you guys have never heard of the dragon goose? :D

All the best for 2014!!

Your point of view will hark back to type of collector that you are and your own personal preferences. A great number of folk have a sympathetic approach to what other folk may think of as junk. For example, you only need to look at how many feathers are rustled when someone looks for advice on home polishing a tired old broken blade (im not talking about an hidden gem). Its surprising how many folk seek to preserve, even when theres little to be gained. At the end of the day they are all hand made antiques, no matter the condition or workmanship. For the lower end of the preservation spectrum, the question raised is "would you buy from here?".

I just want to point out that Liverpool is is not the only club in Europe to have ever had an hooligan element. Some will find the comment offensive. Thats all i will say on the matter.

Thanks Paul, the 2nd time something as slipped my mind in this thread, late Koto as you say. Some folk (newbies in particular), will not be aware that some merchants owned blades as well, ive picked up on it once or twice on NMB, but again, its never really sank in, until now hopefully. It is not something you may read about in the usual selection of starter books, but something well worth knowing about. Cheers!

An interesting point, from an art point of view, one may wonder why this would put someone off. On the other hand, from an historical point of view, i can understand why it may dissuade some folk. For folk looking to buy good art pieces (by a good smith) at good prices, then i suppose it makes good sense to buy wakizashi, rather than the far more expensive katana. All the artwork is there, just shorter :D. The down side will be finding buyers in the future that think along the same lines. One question though, i presume Koto wakizashi blades where less likely to have been owned by merchants, would this be right?

One possibility that springs to mind is consistency. Is it possible this could be due to the carbon content of the jigane at the time the blade was forged?. A blade made by the school in question, but lacking their typical nie quality.

£29,000....point taken LOL :D Ironically, at the end of my last paragraph, i was going to add a point that at the moment there are some very good, reasonably priced Wakizashi (with hozen) around at the moment....

Thanks everyone for your wise words. It had slipped my mind that there are very expensive blades with hozen papers. I suppose some folk will be happy enough with the provenience that Hozen brings, or maybe there are other reasons they dont go for the prestige of Juyo level, either cost or flaws etc. Its good to know that there are good to excellent blades out there waiting to be picked up, at a good price, Juyo papers or not. Cheers for the link Barry, very interesting.

Hi Paul, if repeated polishes diminished nie, it is not likely you would see a trend like this on all Kamakura blades?. In other words, all blades by the same school would be the same, depending on a similar amount of polishing, just a novice thought.

Cheers for throwing some light on it Brian. For most of us Juyo level is too expensive, but It would be interesting to get opinions on what blades offer the best value in the lower price range, in regards workmanship and quality (hada/hamon/activites etc).