Christian Chaffee

Hi Brian, It is not Kanemori or Kanekiyo, but you already know who the smith is... I mentioned this tanto in an email I sent to you back on 4/4/2006, shortly after buying it. Back then, I was wrong about the date... thought it was 1390, but it turned out to be 1338-9. Hey Brian... don't let the cat out of the bag yet.... as you are the only one who knows the name of the smith... until one of these sleuth/detectives on NMB can figure it out.

The translation about him being an ancestor of the Monju Shiro, could have meant a descendant of the Monju Shiro. I don't read any of the kani, so I got this clue from an old "hard to read" translation. Still it's a good obscure not too easy.... clue!

Hi Brian, Giving the name of the smith would be too easy! But then you are right... a teaser is a good idea~! Here is a clue: This smith is considered to be an ancestor of the Monju Shiro.

Here is an image of the book (which has the oshigata of my sword's tang), with it's sleeve. I don't want to say more, until I get the translation, and know more about what is written. I hope someone can read the title, and tell me something about the book.

First I want to say Congrats to Brian Robinson for this website. He has done an amazing job to promote this field of collecting by providing everyone interested in nihonto with this venue. I am fortunate to be able to say that I was doing business with Brian before he took over NMB in 2006, and consider him to be my friend...even though we never met in person. After many years of searching for a truly rare sword, I am very pleased to report that an important tanto was sitting unrecognized in my collection for years. I got an email from a sword expert/friend, who saw the oshigata in a book, and recognized it as one of my swords. I was able to purchase the book, which was published in Japan in Showa 9. There are several pages of text with many rows of kanji about my sword, and an oshigata of both sides of the tang shown. It states (in part) that my tanto is one of the earliest known dated examples, and the earliest known example which shows a connection between two schools. The full translation is being worked on now, and I hope my many questions are answered. I wonder who owned it in 1935, so that it was included in the book. I wonder if the sword had an important status in 1935, like Juto. I wonder how it got from being published in a book in Japan in 1935, to where I bought it about 2007-8. If this sword could tell stories, I bet they would be most interesting. It has been a long time since I have had the time to really enjoy my swords. For many years, I have actively advertised to buy them, and always make the time to check out each call. I am constantly buying fresh out of the woodwork swords, and putting away what I think are the better ones, and putting others on eBay to support my addiction to search for more. I don't have any Japanese swords on eBay now, and won't for a while, but remember my eBay user name (finearts29mv), as I always guarantee every sword I sell to be accurately described. I am no sword expert, and know only a handful of kanji, but I have gone to most of the Japanese sword shows held in the US over the last 20+ years, and have learned what a good sword looks like. I have difficulty telling the difference between good and a great blade. I find most of my swords fresh out of the woodwork, buying them from the veterans, and their family's, who have had them since WWII. i also buy swords at estate sales, antique shows, gun shows, sword shows, and anywhere I can find one. :D I have a website: Realnihonto.com, which has been dormant ever since I had a friend build it for me about 8 years ago. I have been planning on launching this sword website for years, but I have been swamped with other projects and life. I also realize I am not qualified to price or describe what I have accurately, which is likely part of the reason I keep putting this website on the back burner. I need to apologize to many for all the emails that I ignored. This is the first time I have posted on NMB in 2 1/2 years, and have no idea how many of the members I know. if you know me, please send me a message, and let me know you are a friend. I hope to have more time in the next few months to organize and get my website active, so please be patient. Thanks, Christian Chaffee

Hi Guys, It is me Christian Chaffee. I am the owner of realnihonto.com. I know my website has been on ice for about the last 5 years, so I need to explain what is going on. I have been working for the last 16 years to bring San Diego a historic streetcar system. This project has been all consuming for the last few years, and I had to let many other projects sit on a back burner, as one guy can only do so much. Please check out my historic streetcar website here:sandiegohistoricstreetcars.com. This project can change the face of San Diego with a clean green transportation system which will also be a heritage tourist destination. If you put my name (Christian Chaffee) and (San Diego) into your google search engine, you will see what I have been up to, and why I have been so busy. I am planning on getting my website functioning properly by Christmas. I still have every sword and fitting you see on the website, plus many many more which will be added to it. For everyone who has emailed me (and been ignored), you will be getting an email before the website goes active, with a discount coupon good for any item on the website. I know it was rude to not answer your emails, but I have been living a life where I work 12 to 16 hours a day, at the end of everyday, my "things to do" list was longer than when the day started. I will start responding to this thread regularly, and keep you guys posted on progress. I can be reached at (619) 299-3448 if you have any questions. Thanks, Christian Chaffee

Hi Bruno, Did you get to see the images. I don't know if I properly posted them. I will be putting this Koa Isshin wakizashi on eBay. Thanks, Christian

Hi Bruno, I will get images posted early next week. Thanks, Christian

Hi Fellow sword enthusiasts, I saw this thread, and wanted to say I have a Koa Isshin Mantetsu wakizashi in shirasaya. It is in full polish, and is beautiful. It has nashiji hada, and sunigashi along a suguha yakiba, as well as big nie in the boshi. The nagasa is just over 21.5 inches. Any idea of fair market value? This thread is the only reference to a Koa Isshin wakizashi I can find. Thanks, Christian

Hi Jean, Dang!!! Now I know there are lots of people who are waiting for my website, and I better not disapoint them with a "failure to launch" on time. Just so you know, I am the one who hopes he survives ...when mid August gets here! It isn't easy for me to part with any of these blades, because each and every one of them, was one of my keepers which I couldn't bear to part with for years, which is why I still have them all today. These swords represent the cream of the crop of years of treasure hunting for these crystalized iron gems, which I know I can never replace. I realize that I am just a cutodian of these treasures, some of which have had at least 29 different custodians before me, assuming they changed hands once every 25 years. I will eventually sell all of these swords, but I will treasure the memories of discovering them, for the rest of my life. I am very fortunate to have grown up in the antique business, working as my fathers assistant from the time I was 11 years old. My accumulated knowledge in American antiques and art has been the key to the sucess of my estate liquidation business "Chaffee Estate Services". I have many long time friends in the antique business all over southern California. When I look back, I never expected my estate liquidation business to put me in such a unique position to acquire so many fresh Japanese swords, most of which come straight from old untouched estates, or from the family's of the men, who personally brought these back from the Pacific theater after WWII. San Diego is a very beautiful city, and many GI's returning from the war loved the climate, and settled here. Thousands of swords went into closets, garages, trunks, and on to walls for display. Today, when these estates need to be liquidated, and a Japanese sword turns up, I usually get a phone call before the estate sale is advertised, and many times, get to purchase the swords. I have been the very first person to remove the tsukas from hundreds of Japanese swords, which had not been removed since WWII. Of these swords, only about 1 in 30 is anything really special, so building my collection has required many long exhausting searches for each keeper I have found. Anyway, I got another phone call today from a guy named "Owen", and I am going to see another fresh blade tomorrow morning so I better cut this short, and get to bed. 30 days and counting down! Christian

Hi Steve, I should have realnihonto.com launched in about a month, and will post the count down here on the NMB daily when the time gets close to putting it on line. Building this website has been a monumental task, and it still needs more work. I am including a unique feature which no other Japanese sword website has. I am not copying anyone else's hard work, so every line of code has to be written. The best part is, that every sword I will be offering for sale, is a fresh discovery, not offered for sale (except when I purchased it) or seen by knowledgeable eyes for at least the last 62 years. I will keep you posted on the progress. Regards, Christian

I get fresh swords regularly, so there should be several nicer wakizashi available. I hope you will enjoy the website. Thanks, Christian

Some blades by Naokatsu have an inscription on the mune of the tang, which indicate that it is a copy of a work of a famous koto swordsmith. As a rule, I would consider any blade made by jojosaku rated smith, one which would need to be athenticated before any value range can be determined. Good Luck with it. Christian

I am posting my response so everyone can read it, as I think I have included some information which could promote learning about nihonto, and maybe even result in a new sword study group forming somewhere. Hi Steve, I too was surprised that there was another person in San Diego whom I had not met, who has a serious interest in fine swords and fittings. I am always a bit cautious having someone who I have not met come to my home. Before I invited you I checked out your former posts, and could tell you had a genuine interest, so I was not concerned about inviting you to my home, and enjoyed your visit. I was inspired by your enthusiasm and zeal to learn more. If I can find a few seriously interested people who would like to participate in monthly meetings, I will make the effort to start up our monthly sword study group again. Last year I started what I called "The San Diego Token-Kai", which I jokingly referred to as "the blind leading the blind". Although I have much to learn, our group did make progress, and we all had a lot of fun. Some of the guys would bring swords or fittings which they offered for sale, and other times, blades were brought in for a group evaluation. We all would all pass the blades around, and talk smack, picking out the slightest flaws and weaknesses, and guessing at it's age and sometimes school. If it was signed, we would try to read the signature. Although this can be a painful experience for the owner of the blade, it helped us all to see how others evaluated blades, and to develop a methodology in examination. Hopefully this has helped us all to catch many of the hard to see flaws, which we might have over looked, and could have resulted in a costly mistake. Last year I had a meeting format, which I can now see how to improve. I have learned a lot by trying to lead these meetings which were fun, educational, and helped to build good friendships. I am writing this in hopes that maybe some of you out there, will also start up sword study groups in your local areas. It isn't really hard, unless you try to pretend you are an expert, and that you know what you are doing! I will start off our group meetings by opening my eBay room about 30 minutes early for looking at the blades and fittings which are brought for sale. For those of you who know Cole, know you will see a large quantity of reasonably priced fittings in all price ranges. The early birds will usually get the worms, so I am sure everyone will show up on time. When all the members of the group have arrived, we will all sit around a big table, and eat sushi, and socialize. After we eat, we will look at swords and fittings brought in for evaluation, and get some good laughs while talking smack, which is quite educational. Then we will have a discussion on a single school and period, discussing the important smiths of that period, the history of the school, and the characteristics found in their blades. I will also try provide an example we can examine hands on. I will then let the guys know what school we will discuss the following month, so everyone can do some reading in advance, and may someone will have an example to bring to show everyone. We will also go over the basics of sword handling and care at every meeting, and the procedures to instill a systematic way of examining a blade. After all the blades are put away, we will enjoy a bottle of saki, and maybe do more buying and selling of fittings. We never ever mix handling blades with drinking saki for obvious reasons. I plan on keeping the format of the meetings about the same, but will include a stronger emphasis on what to look for in a blade. This way we will also have a better chance of identifying a gem in the rough when we see it. If you live in the San Diego area, and think you would be interested in attending, please contact me, and I will include your name on the list of potential new members. Since it is my responsibility to do what I can to insure that the meetings are safe, and that every member is somewhat normal, I will personally screen each applicant to make sure that they have a genuine interest in fine nihonto, and to weed out the ones who are more interested in martial arts and slicing things up. Anyway, I am looking forward to making some new friends, and seeing some old friends more regularly. Christian

Hi Brian, Thanks for the nice email! I figured you, and all the nihontophiles would want to hear about my latest discoveries, as they are special. I got a call from Bob Benson last week, and he says an osuriage daito I found and sent him last year for polishing has been completed. Bob says it was made by Sekishu Naotsuna. When he first told me, I recognized the name, but couldn't place it. I then asked him how to spell Sekishu. Bob started laughing, and explained that Sekishu Naotsuna was a top level swordsmith, and important. According to Fred Weissberg's site, Sekishu Naotsuna is considered one of the best of the Masamune Juttetsu (10 famous students of Masamune). Needless to say, I am very happy. I never expected to stumble on a blade like this fresh out of the woodwork! There is a Tokubetsu Juyo example pictured on page 40 of the book "The influence of Masamune". Bob Benson assembled the display and lecture, which was the foundation for this beautiful book which was published by the NBTHK American Branch. The book was written on the exhibit of blades at the 2003 San Francisco Token Kai, which is sponsered by the NCJSC. Bob also told me that another osuriage wakizashi I sent, is from the late kamakura or early nambokucho period, and looks like a ko-Mihara, or Enju blade. Anyway, there are other discoveries too, all of which will be added somewhere on my Japanese sword website.... coming soon. Good Luck Hunting! Christian

Hi Guys, My eBay user name is finearts29mv. Please check out my long time 7+ years history, and culmulative 99.5% feedback rating. I could have better than 99.5 feedback, but I do my part to police eBay. If I buy something that is misrepresented, I let people know by leaving the seller bad feedback. Thus I have gotten retalitory feedback just about everytime I nailed a bad seller. You can also see that I have sucessfully completed 3338 transactions, although eBay only shows my feed back as 2929. This is because I have repeat customers, and eBay feedback only reflects unique buyer and seller feedback. This means if you sell three items to one buyer, your feedback will only increase by 1 feedback. You will also find additional information on my website which will provide you with all the verifiable information you would want to know, so that there is no doubt at all, that you are dealing with a good guy, with a long time, solid reputation. Thanks for asking, Christian

Hello Everyone, It's me Christian Chaffee in San Diego. I just want to let you know I will be launching my Japanese sword website "realnihonto.com" in the next few weeks. I am sure some of you know me personally as I have been a seller at most of the Japanese sword shows in in the US for the last 18 years. I have also been selling antiques, art, and collectibles on ebay for the last 8 years. Over the years, I have sold a few hundred Japanese swords on eBay. I have received positive feedback on every sword I sold, and never had one returned. I have always done my best to include complete crystal clear photos of every blade, and to show the all the good and bad points. I may not have gotten the astronomical prices I see some swords with crappy photos sell for, but I can say, I have made many friends, and have loyal satisfied customers who get real value for their hard earned money. Last year I sold an osuriage mounted daito on eBay which was out of polish for around $2300.00 The happy buyer has informed me that it was awarded Tokubetsu Hozon to ko-Bizen, and is a Juyo candidate. Congrats to Jim in the midwest for recognizing it. I'm happy it has been recognized as special, because I know it will be properly preserved. I wish I had recognized it, but then that's all part of learning. For every good one I have unknowingly sold, I have recognized others, which I have had polished and papered. As my collection of polished and papered blades as grown, I have decided I should sell some of them. Since I don't want my beautiful blades tossed to the wind in a 10 day eBay auction, I have decided to build a website, and offer them to serious collectors who demand the time necessary to carefully consider their investments wisely, and solid guaranteed value for their money. EBay is a good place to sell blades which need restoration and papers, because it is a long, expensive, and risky process. I can easily have $4000 invested in restoring a blade with new shirasaya, tsunagi, mailing, agent fees, shinsa fees, and if it is worthy, for costs for a sayagaki. It is easier to sell a sword which needs restoration on eBay for $2000, than to invest an additional $4000.00, taking the risk that something ugly won't show up while it is being polished, and a waiting a couple of years to see how it papers. If it is not awarded good papers, I am stuck trying to get $6000, just to break even! Most of my swords for sale on my website have been polished by a top polisher, and have NBTHK papers. My website will only feature a few swords at first, and as time goes on, I will be constantly be adding more and more, swords, fittings, and related antique Japanese art items. Most items are for sale, and others, are part of my personal collection, and images are made available for comparison and study purposes only. I will also have a links where you can view my collection of Japanese art which has been passed down to me through our family. This collection of Japanese art was assembled by my grandparents from the 1930's to the 1980's. I have many paintings, some of which date to the late koto period, and many beautiful antique woodblock prints. I hope you get a chance to take a look at my website from time to time, because I am going to do my best to make it fun, and as informative as I can. I am not an expert, and do not want to represent myself as one. I want everyone to know that I welcome input and advice, and want to make and keep, my website to be a source of accurately described, investment grade swords, fittings, and related Japanese antiques. Thanks, Christian