Heringsdorf

Thanks Gabriel, Thank you for the link. I tried it, but the sites I tried didn't give any results so far.

I tried that, but all I can find is "Sold" no actual amount.

Hello, I was wondering what a fair value spectrum would be for a tanto made by Gassan Sadakazu with NBTHK Tokubetsu hozon certificate and in polish?

He is currently making a niju gold and silver habaki for a sword of mine. Here some pictures of the unfinished habaki.

John Tirado also makes wonderful habaki.

I had a signed Wakizashi which passed NTHK NPO kanteisho, then I submitted it for NBTHK and it came back as gimei!? I was surprised about that discrepance.

Thank you very much Chris for the detailed explanation. I now have a much better understanding of this topic.

This is what Kazushige Tsuruta wrote to me concerning this topic. "Dear Mr. Maximilian Bini. NTHK-NPO kanteisho. is not reliable Kantei. Thank you very much for your inquiry. Kind regards. Kazyushige Tsuruta" "Dear Mr. Maximilian Bini. In Japan, the most reliable Kantei is Tanobe sensei's sayagaki. NBTHK paper. Fijishiro Kantei are quite well known Kanteisyo. Other Kantei is not reliable. Kind regards, Kazushige Tsuruta" Personally I don't agree with them not being reliable, I have NTHK NPO certificates myself. I do consider them to be comparable to NBTHK Hozon level though. If I'm misunderstanding something here, please explain so I can correct my view of the NTHK NBTHK levels. Thank you.

Hello Chris, I got this list from Jean. Besides from a collector standpoint NBTHK Tokubetsu hozon certificates are regarde higher than NTHK kanteisho, especially after the split. It's quite obvious that blades or fittings with TH command higher prices than NTHK kanteisho. In my limited experience I have noticed that collectors and dealers equate the NTHK kanteisho with the NBTHK hozon level. Certain well known dealers in Japan even told me that they don't consider the NTHK kanteisho certificates as reliable and only use NBTHK papers.

My understanding was that NBTHK Tokubetsu hozon is in the 80's point wise, not 70's that's comparable with hozon.

I have these pictures of the Fuchi & Kashira and kogai from before the restoration. The fk mon were in bad shape. On the kogai there was a lot of surface wear and the patina was quite thin.

Just received these pictures from Ford Hallam. He restored a Fuchi & Kashira set and a Kogai for me.

Merci beaucoup Jean.

Hello, I was wondering how the different papers compare. Which are more reliable or respected. My understanding was that NTHK kanteisho is comparable to NBTHK Hozon, as both are in the 70-79 points range!? Now the NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon is in the 80-89 points rang, right?

Thank you very much John, John and Steve for the translation.

Hello, I need help with two TH papers. Thank you.

To me this tsuba (posted by Chen Chen) doesn't look old or Japanese made. I have also never seen such a box for an authentic tsuba, and the text is Chinese not Japanese. I might be wrong with this evaluation and would appreciate if the more experienced collectors could address this point.

Nice kogatana Darcy. I always wondered why only one side is polished on the kogatana, any reasons? Wasn't able to find a clear answer to this.

Oh my, these are awful, garbage Chinese fakes. Not one thing good about these. Everything is wrong and very low quality. If you can't identify that yourself you shouldn't buy any swords at your current level of knowledge. Instead buy lots of good books and learn. Like that these swords would be completely obvious to you to be low end Chinese fakes.

Hello Ken, I'm glad you like this. I thought this to be the best approach for a better quality kogatana in full polish.

Ryan, yes John Tirado also made the habaki. I showed this pice to Markus Sesko, and he thinks that this might be shoshin and not a gimei kogatana. He also told me that smiths usually signed kogatana differently than the bigger blades, due to space limitation. Also the gimei kogatana tend to be of low quality and this one is of medium-high quality, further supporting the notion that this is shoshin.

Yes I got it from Nihonto.us

Some pictures of a shirasaya with tsunokuchi for a kogatana. Has a solid gold habaki. All work was done by John Tirado. Also I would appreciate any input concerning the mei. Yamashiro no kami fujiwara Toshinaga.

One is not a better polisher just because he is Japanese, that's not what I meant. I was referring to being traditionally trained in Japan the Japanese way vs. learning by doing.

Thank you Stephen. I suspected that since he is self taught.