DirkO

hmmmm Looking at the hefty reactions, I think I'll reconsider. Thx a lot guys for not making me spend a lot of money on something that isn't genuine. It's like one of you said : there's no hurry, a real katana is worth the wait. Trouble is, I'm from Belgium and there aren't too many collectors around, so it's hard to gain experience with the real deal except from books. Good thing I found these forums Saves me around 800€ !!!!

Hi all, This is my first post here Like most of you I've been intruiged with katanas for some time now. I've read some books about it (the more i read about it, the more interesting it gets) and I've finally decided to take the step to buy one. Now the one I'm interested in, is the following : Length (+ saya) : 108,5cm Length (-saya) : 105,5cm Length of saya : 79cm Length of tsuka : 29cm Length of blade : 76,3cm (blade is signed, but i can just make out the date and not the signature) Length of katana without tsuka : 93cm Length of Kozuka and Kogai : about 20cm's each (10cm blade) Now if it is authentic and the tang hasn't been added on later, it should be from the 3rd year of Meiji, being 1871. The fact that the kozuka and kogai are included is also a nice feat. Bearing in mind that I still need to go onsite to have a close inspection of the item, I'd like to ask you, as people who are more experienced with these kind of things, the following : What should I be paying particular attention to when inspecting it onsite ? What would be a fair price to pay for this katana ? thx a lot for your help !!!!