Eric Santucci

Just a note this is going back on Ebay shortly with BIN or Best Offer so I can control the responses and vet the buyers better instead of the debaucle of an auction. If anyone is interested here on NMB though, please DM me and do not go thru EBay. thanks

One and only large price reduction to $3,500 USD. Payment via Wise bank transfer preferred, but PayPal and Venmo also fine. I’ll still do free 1-day Fedex overnight shipping, but if you want to pay via PP you need to cover the fees or use Friends & family. Reminder this is US shipping only for now, thanks

Northern Virginia, USA

Hi all, Posting a sword here I had up on Ebay the last few days and then pulled down due to a multitude of challenges. I very rarely use Ebay for swords these days; I decided to give it another chance before regretting it after a few days. Anyway, here is the sword with an offer price of $5,000 USD shipped via FedEx Overnight. Shipping within US only (sorry, but I’ve had my fill of shipping challenges to overseas locations too often lately). Donation to the board upon sale (will be coordinated thru Brian per usual) ———— This is a beautiful wakizashi from the Late Edo period, Mito (Hitachi Province) made by Sukemitsu. It is signed simply and elegantly with three kanji exemplifying the smith’s confidence and the endearing power of a Mito region blade. Mito swords have a fascinating history. The Lord of Mito (Nariaki) required the most beautiful and finely made blades for his samurai and appointed Norikatsu as the master of his forge. Norikatsu trained many famous smiths over the years and Mito produced some of the best swords of the later Edo period. Noriaki himself did some level of sword making; it is debated whether he did full forging or just heat treating with Norikatsu. However, given that Nariaki swords often show a unique style of hada (called yokuma-hada) it is believed he actually did forge blades. Nariaki blades are signed with the “clock” mon instead of an actual kanji signature further adding a uniqueness to his work. This particular wakizashi is one of the most beautiful Mito pieces I have seen and owned over 26 years of collecting. Sukemitsu forged this blade in a robust hirazukuri with a length of 14.5 inches, .3 in sori, 1.2 in motohaba, and .3 in. munekasane. The jihada is comprised of komokume with jinie and chikei. The hamon is kugonome-midare with ashi, ara-nie, and nie-suji. The boshi ends in a beautiful komaru turn. The nakago is finely finished – ubu, with kiri file pattern and kurijiri shape. As is often seen with Mito blades, it comes with a beautiful shakudo covered copper habaki. This sword was awarded Tokubetsu Hozon papers on December 3, 2021. Several of the pictures here are courtesy of the original service I purchased the sword from many years ago. I also included my own picture for reference as well (the blue paper with my name and date is my Ebay seller ID).

Thank you Yoon and Tom, I appreciate the information.

Greetings, Hoping to get some identification assistance for Horikawa Kunitoki – supposedly an early Edo period sword student of Horikawa Kunihiro. I am unable to find any reference to this smith in Sesko’s Masters of Keicho Shinto amongst the Kunihiro information, nor the e-Index of Japanese Swordsmiths. I do see other Kunitoki smiths, but those do not reference Kunihiro nor the proper early Edo time period (assuming early 1600s – 1620 or thereabout). There is one online sales source I have been able to hit for him (Wakeidou), but not much to go on there. I am either getting too old or missing something obvious amongst the research. 😊 Either way, I extend my request to each of you for any assistance. Many thanks, Eric

@admins - this thread can be archived now. Many thanks!

Thanks all, it has been a journey with this one. USPS dropped the ball on this one multiple times. In fact shipping status still shows as undelievered even though it was. Airtags arrived the other day and will be used for future shipping. If I use USPS ever again, I will be returning to Registered Mail service, since that is tracked via a secured process. However, Fedex Overnight will likely be the preferred choice now.

Thanks Brian, that is an excellent idea about the AirTag and I will definitely be doing that from now on for future items. Hope to have another update by Tuesday once USPS reopens after the Federal holiday.

Hi all, The special order anti-rust Morimichi sword for the Maeda Family with horimono I had posted for sale was successfully sold this week and shipped on Thurs. Upon shipping via USPS 2-Day Express Mail, the package status stopped updating after leaving the Dulles VA Distribution Center hub on Thurs evening; it had been on its way to a buyer in Norfolk, VA. Reference link: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/45989-for-sale-1938-special-order-maeda-family-sword/ I’ve never had a lost or stolen package via USPS in 25 years of collecting antiques, but appears something is off here. I will be opening an investigation with USPS once their grace period is over. In the meantime, as this is a holiday weekend, I would greatly appreciate if everyone can please keep an eye out on Ebay, forums, etc. in case it was stolen and shows up for sale. This is me being overly cautious. Thanks all and please have a better weekend than me

And finally,…NMB donation $50 sent as promised, thanks all! (Cc @Brian)

Sold

On hold, pending payment

Interesting sword, thanks for posting. I always recommend accessing the auction site directly (in this case Dan Morphy Auctions) instead of Invaluable as you can see bids direct on the auction house site. Fees are typically lower too if you go directly thru the auction house. https://auctions.mor...RINE_-LOT566497.aspx

Greetings Mal, many thanks for these details; this is fantastic information! The relationship with Kanenaga was something that another forum member and I were discussing over messages as well due to the similiarities noted. Very fascinating information and thank you very much for taking the time to post these details and the additional details on the nakago of my sword, I greatly appreciate all of this and enjoyed reading it!