DirkO

Jean, you beat me because of my need for a coffee

Well for most collectors a hagire is a definite nono. But if you buy a blade with hagire just because you want to study the activity in the good parts of the blade, then it could be a cheap way to have some hands on experience at home. You'll have to keep in mind that it's not the best addition to a collection.

I remember seeing that nice sukesada naginata before.... too bad I don't have that kind of money lying around http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?from=salesummary&intObjectID=5253787&sid=cff9b101-ce34-4eb5-83c4-6aa22ef6a78f http://www.nihonto.com/3.5.04.html

Grey, The auction description on that site says : Genuine Wakizashi (short Samurai sword) by Yamashiro circa 1650 A.D. w/ Non-commissioned officer’s metal scabbard Maybe that's a starting point right there :-) http://engstromauctions.com/HouserOct3/flyerforweb.htm

Congrats Brian ! Hope the following year will bring you nothing but good things in your life !!! - PS : Isn't it time to start rallying for the yearly raffle again ? :D -

Guess my more esotheric approach loses out to the more practical one :D

I think the theme is the buddhist wheel of life : http://backpack4life.net/photos/thailand/images/654/640x480.aspx

Yes that was what I thought as well. Registration began with the higher ranked people, so on average this should be better quality than the swords held be the masses. Or at least that's how I remember it.

Yes Andi, It's indeed a sort of registration paper (Torokushu). You can read all about it in this article by Guido Schiller (together with his evil twin quite the dynamic duo here on the forum) :lol: http://www.nihontomessageboard.com/articles/sword_law.pdf Yours seems to be one of the earlier registration, seeing the form and the early number on it. (< 5000 is called daimyo registration if I'm not mistaken ? Can anyone elaborate on that ? Or correct me ? - probably the latter )

Don't forget the one that's partially filled again and I even think the bottom one was redrilled at one point, so that makes 6

Already being discussed here : http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5647&start=15

Same here ! Got the mail, not responding.

Is this new NBSK meant to replace the NBTHK in the long run ? Or simply to provide structure for certain areas which got less attention in the past ? Is NBSK supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs ? Does anyone have more info ?

OMG I would give anything for a meet and greet with Mark :-) But yes, apparently there's big scary world out there full of people who don't collect nihonto or even care about them !

Brian, I think you got the Stephen Spielberg bit from the Nat Geo documentary, if I recall correctly. I also think there's a book out there about nihonto in the collections of famous people, but I'm not sure if this is just about FN (Famous Nihon-jin) or more of a worldwide thing :-) PS Clive : I'm more of a Mark Knopfler-fan :D

Now here's something else : http://cgi.ebay.com/Japanese-Sword-Tsuba-and-Menuki-Moulds-For-Casting_W0QQitemZ250465961806QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3a50ef474e&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12%7C66%3A2%7C39%3A1%7C72%3A1205%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50 First time I come across something like that on the bay.

You can sign up for mail updates ?

I agree with the fact that the signatures will never be identical, but I think if you were to sign a piece of paper 10 times, you would see : 1) your signatures are almost never identical 2) there are certain characteristics of your signatures which will be consistent, like a certain swirl or turn. 3) even those temporary consistent characteristics will change over one's lifetime Same goes for mei in swords I guess. Some smiths can be dated by the way they signed (and not just with which name). On the other hand it makes it more difficult to be certain a mei is legit. But then there's always shinsa :-)

I would go for a French Renaissance painter. The use of blue is exquisite :-)

Well it seems like a scam. Nevertheless a scam which has more work put into it (which makes it a lot more tempting off course). You can ask pictures and how he expects payments. Also try and find out how they got your e-mail addresses. Try and make him expose himself as much as possible (address, business, tel nr,references, mutual contacts,...) because these are things you can check to authenticate the seller. But I wouldn't really hold my breath. Maybe it's just my suspicious nature, but prove me wrong

I hear that expression every so often in regard to Tamahagane and still wonder why Hi Guido, This straight from Wikipedia : Tamahagane (玉鋼:たまはがね?) is a type of Japanese steel. Translated as "jewel steel". Besides the wiki bit, the chunk I have shows off every conceivable color (gold, greenish, blueish,...), so it's not hard to understand why they call it like that.

Hi Ted, The little chunk I have is only 700 grams. But I didn't buy it as a basis to produce something with. It's merely to show people (and myself) the raw material these blades were made from and why it's called jewel steel. And I think that people who are interested in buying this item, are of the same idea. About the price : well that's up to people to decide for themselves.

Nice catch Henry ! 1 kg is quite a lot imo. I already have a piece, but I'm sure a there are a lot of lurkers out there The seller even has 2 pieces up for grabs. For their sake : http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190316102317 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190316310833

I'm having problems with the cutout not being symmetrical, it seems to slant from right to left or is this just me ? This would leave something asymmetrical going through, so not much to choose from. Some kind of locking mechanism ? Or maybe a teppo disguised as tanto with fittings to go with it ?

Ford, I'm not exactly a tsubaphyle, but nevertheless intrigued by the nakago-ana. Could you give us some dimensions of the tsuba and it's ana please ? Maybe that will give us some clues as to it's purpose...