Vermithrax16

Agree 100%. Markus is working on a project of mine right now and so far the quality of the work has been sky high and the price very fair. Can recommend 100% as well.

Not for swords but saw all this same stuff on eBay when I used to buy coins. Just annoying really. For last 6 years only use eBay to get a feel for pricing/demand trends. Not interested in the headaches.

Darcy and Barry, amazing!!!

Really like this one Erick, nice.

Folks! You all have some beautiful pieces. Thank you so much for sharing, I really love the silver fittings and don't see them much.

I have 5 tickets for mega Millions tonight, jackpot $303 million.

Related: I like this one a lot except for the stupid re-enactment scenes:

I think Grey hit's the main point.

Love it !!!!! Thanks for posting this Ron.

Not sure what you have but I love octagonal tsuba!

If you thought I meant there was no reason to study Koto blades in my post I need to be better at getting my meaning across. Apologies.

And to add, To see a learning process in motion, I started a sword tracker list in January 2017. Swords for sale from various outlets. Things that caught my eye, etc. Last night I reviewed them all and gave all a study. I deleted 75% of them.

John, Thanks for the post. As soon as I have the answer, I will let you know Yes, these swords are indeed art as I see them. And putting money into them is something I have decided I am going to do, but have to balance that with a wife that really thinks this passion is, well let's leave out the terms she uses....... I am not of unlimited means either and I think more time on this forum (perhaps a new sub section about entry level sword buying?) would be better spent on education/resources for newer and less enabled members on how to get the very best sword they can for the money they have available. It makes no sense to go into great detail about koto blades with all the amazing features (and some era swords are truly wonderous) which you too can have for just....... insert crazy price here. Even if you take a break or stop collecting, a nice folder that is organized by however you like, filled with high resolution pictures of various swords is one way to "hunt" nihonto without going broke. And it's still fun.

I like it Erick, but you knew that! Great pictures, came out very well. Love the classical Ishido choji work, always fun to look at. That shirasaya is really nice, very eye catching. You now have 3 nice pieces from 3 different schools and era. Plenty to look at, study, and learn about. If you want to keep on in this hobby from the characteristics of the different swords, it may help you to decide on features you find your favorite, or maybe you will want to add another sword that's totally different from your 3. In any case, congrats on the new blades.

Muneharu was an Ishido school student under Mitsuhira and Korekazu 1st gen time overlap I believe. Dating of around 1661 or so.

What an education!

Thanks for the kind words Erick. I am learning too, it's a process.

I was mistaken on price, just checked my email with the firm. Scan was $500 for a 0.1mm tolerance file in STL or CAD then printing depended on marerial used.

I looked into this quite a bit. From what I was told by a good Boston based firm was the scan of the sword has to be high quality, then converted to print file. I think estimate was around 2k for all. They are a big shop so maybe inflated. If it could be had for 1k would be great idea to avoid risks shipping swords out for fittings.

I had more I bought at $9-13 but when silver went crazy to $50 I sold around $40. Still have some left.

From my references I can't really find a signature match but the books don't cover every sword ever made by a smith. Agree with Stephen, leaving it to others.

We could have some made if anyone knows a good craftsman...... I have quite a few of these:

Great responses by all, and plenty to think about.

People have some excellent things!! Thanks for sharing.

Great points all and Chris agree 100% that unless one of the lucky few that gets access to deal swords, probably are going to have to pay the renters fee if/when moving on from a sword.