Curran

I agree with Grey. Nihonto has such a long history. It is necessary to have a very good foundation before trying a restoration project. Otherwise there are so many small mistakes you can make in having an item restored. Years later, you will see each mistake as big as the moon in the night sky. At present, your risk vs reward is very high. But at least you are asking for advice and sound open to hearing it.

Matsumoto-san and Moriyama-san, Thank you for the information. It is a shame. I am sure it has happened to me before, but this is the first time the seller seems so obvious and greedy. Peter: I understand, but neither time was the auction pulled. The first time the 'other bidder' and I went back and forth adding about 40 minutes to the auction until it finally ENDED. Not pulled. Same with the second time. We dueled and added about another 20 minutes. It ended without being pulled. It takes pleasure away from owning it. At this point, the seller would be lucky to get from me a bid now MAX at 50% of what I offered in the 1st auction.

I'm 97.5% sure I've caught him shilling his own auctions. I am far from a clever patrol officer, but he has had an item I really wanted, and apparently it keeps coming back. 1st time up: No Reserve.....I dueled with another buyer, driving all the way up to price X about 60000 yen higher than the 3rd place bidder. Then I let it go. *Pop* it was back on the market within 24 to 48 hours. 2nd time up: No Reserve..... I am a bit more cautious, but I still want it. Towards auction end, another bidder magically comes in and we duel it up to price Y about 25000 yen higher than 3rd place bidder. I back off and let the 'last minute dueler' have it. Price is lower than round #1. *Pop* back on the market within 48 to 72 hours. 3rd time up: Initial Bid is set high. Interestingly enough, it is set almost exactly to my highest bid in round #1. I feel like a big fish that has been hooked twice and gotten off the line both times. What is the old phrase... "Me thinks there is something rotten in Denmark, and it isn't the fish!". Anyone got a good explanation for this that doesn't Fuji_5005 shilling his own auctions?

Yahoo!Japan: Fuji_5005 Anyone know this seller or dealt with him before? I have a question about his auctions. I'd like to determine if he is doing something legal of which I am unaware, or if it is just blatant shilling.

I don't see how the mirror maker cast tsuba is relevant to the discussion on cast iron tsuba. Please explain further.

I emailed E-Sword about an item and have not heard back after several days. Unfortunately, I had to ask them questions about the item that are more complex than I can ask in Japanese. Maybe they were confused by my English? Has anyone experience with them and can comment or advise? PM is fine, or post here.

This would be the one Larry has for sale at $5500 in the For Sale section? Stolen photos? No mention of the nasty weird deep groove in it. What the heck is that? I'd like think it was just a camera reflection, but looks like someone cut quite a nasty groove in it with some sort of power tool.

Is the Wichamm book that much more significant than the Lambourne book? As tight on space as the apartment is, that is one of the large books I refuse to give up. We're old fuddy duddies in that we still believe in having silverware and have an Art Nouveau pattern. In addition to Nihonto, the only things we collect are Durgin Iris pieces. It took us years to assemble a serviceable set without spending a Juyo worth of money. It is great to eat with Artwork nearly every day.

Yep. Japonisme -> Art Nouveau Good Bushu-Ito tsuba and such right over to Western interpretations. You have a non Japanese tsuba in that group of photos. I assume this was on purpose. Why?

Rich, I no longer get the magazine. I should, and don't have much excuse not to do so any more. As mostly a fittings collector, I am always disappointed they don't post the fittings very often. I scan read it with my limited Japanese and don't really understand the implications of the "graffiti" Mitsu. This is certainly a less than perfect blade and well beyond me at the current price yen-USD rate. But it is one of those areas where I find myself looking when an example comes up. I don't know if I agree with concretely sticking this work in the Motoshige camp, at least not from what I see of workmanship.

Grey, Thank you. I had missed it somehow.Oshigata isn't very good, but there it is. Jacques, I hadn't thought to break out the Fujishiro. I will look in there later tonight. I can see why he might be grouped in with Motoshige. Do you guys think that is shintetsu? It is highly likely my eyes are shot and not seeing the obvious. Given the early bizen construction, I see it as an old sword with many a polish where the grain develops ripples similar to the sand on some beaches. Fred Weissberg had a comparable juyo for sale at one point that was of this sort. I think the relation was 1 or 2 steps removed from Mitsutada. This blade seems to me sort of a half way point between the fine quiet of that one, and the jigane of ko-motoshige.

Can you point me to any book he is listed in? If he is in the Bizen Taikan, I missed it.

I have found I sometimes enjoy the quiet well forged works of lesser known Bizen smiths between Mitsutada and the Nambokuchu period. This Mitsushige interests me: http://www.choshuya.co.jp/sale/gj/1107/2_mitushige.htm I have no idea who is this smith and cannot find him even in the Bizen Taikan. The best I can read the Japanese, his work is similar to Motoshige (ko-Motoshige) or he is somehow related to Motoshige, but not his father or teacher. Coincidence had me looking at two Juyo grade Motoshige this past weekend, and I can see similarities in the sword to the ko-Motoshige I was studying. What is Mitsushige's relation or place inside the Bizen school?

Moriyama-san and Justin, Thank you. That was exactly what I needed and makes perfect sense as a description of the tsuba theme. Justin, that translator program is very useful to my needs. I appreciated the link and might download the full version this weekend when I set up a new computer. I use Grey's Flashcards to practice kanji when at the gym (oxygen to the brain, higher attention :lol: ). I use the Japan auctions to work on mei readings, and sometimes I run into a real challenge either deciphering handwriting or getting the meaning. I remain impressed by those like Mr. Stuart who have learned to read well over a short span of study. Moriyama-san has solved more than a few riddles for me.

I am translating a hakogaki and having trouble with one character: 橘 What is the correct stroke count on this one? Possible readings? I am not finding it in the books I am using, and am probably overlooking it.

I have seen very similar rendering of leaves on a 4th Gen Jingo. It is possibly a related student or dilettante work. If you are able to clarify the second character a bit, I will give it a further go.

As Stephen said, veteran collectors had me use NeverDull on my first starter blade. With consistent use over a period of time, it cleaned up the grey and let me see enough of a hamon to decide to have it professionally polished. Just for beater blades out of the woodwork.

I cannot see the mei particularly well and think I must be seeing the second character wrong, but I am going to hazard that the mei reads: "Goto Teijo (Kao)". Kao of course being the personal mark of the artist. Again, this is a guess partially because of the theme. It this is an exercise to learn reading mei, it is a valid one because Goto signature take some practice. If it is to read the signature to determine value, then I will get off the highroad and take the low road. I would then say this piece is collectible because it looks to be the truest example of fossilized cowpuckey to ever cross ebay; yet actually be Japanese. ***I recently went through eBay just to see what the old stomp grounds are like now. Absolute flea market....Odds of buying something real at a fair price seem to have plummeted. Yet Aoi Arts seems to be upping their prices on mediocre work, and Choshuya recently offered student work at $12,000 where near identical work by the more desirable teacher could be had with the same level of papers for $6000 on this side of the Pacific. It is partially the 50% rise of the yen over the US$ in recent years, but you would do much better to buy from sellers in the USA or Europe if you can negotiate a good price. By this, I don't mean eBay. I do mean best bets for collecting fittings are the NMB for sale section and whatever you can negotiate from veteran collectors at sword shows or through friendships. _____________________________________________________________ Ford: Shiranu ga hotoke Works for me..... Once had a bottle of Haut Brion 1989 decanted and enjoyed just right over the course of many hours. Now I can't respect most any other high end Bordeaux, yet can't afford more wine at the level of the Haut Brion 1989. I drank some of my other good bottles, sold the rest or gave a few to close friends. And quit collecting all together. Haven't had a bottle above $65 in years. I would enjoy a good higher end bottle, but not nearly as much as I would have before having had such a transcendent experience. In this regard, I do believe "to forget" is evolutionary beneficial. Budda bless me that I may forget a bit. Shiranu ga hotoke

$10,000 tsuba came off a $1000 sword from eBay a few years ago. Some other good ones have been picked up by people looking at fittings while everyone else looks at the long knives. Rare that it happens, sometimes it does. I don't believe in breaking up koshirae if relatively original and in decent condition, but sometimes the blade is dead due to kid with a grinder or hagire. OPINION: Functional real tsuba = $500 or less 800 out of 1000 Tsuba unique enough worth papering= $500 to $1000 150 out of 1000 Tsuba of Quality= $1000 to $2000 35 out of 1000 Art Tsuba= $2000 on up 15 out of 1000 This DOES NOT mean that if a dealer has smacked a $1000 price tag on it, it is inherently a Quality Tsuba. Especially on eBay. Now that I've stuck my neck out with this armchair opinion, Slings and arrows of counter opinion await me.

Who is talking about 'dead artists'? I am talking about things made past 20, 10, 5 years with Hozon papers and vague attribution.

Lorenzo, Eh..... It IS 3 piece construction. No???? _____________________________________ Your English is fine. Italian has too many VERB tenses. Italian Subjunctive is worse than Spanish Subjunctive.

*Squak* "What Ford said." (Polly the Parrot wants a cracker) I thought the sanmai peg was common knowledge, especially to someone experienced like Lorenzo. I was implying Bernard's might be sanmai, but wasn't sure. And yep.... Henry's is hardly sanmai peg construction. Those are pretty straight forward drilled holes.

about 400 years = dividing line between 'ko'-kinko and kinko. For once, I think I disagree with Ford The past 2 weeks have had me looking at a cornucopia of ko-kinko and early Higo wave tsuba: in two different avenues of study. NOW they suddenly seem to overlap here, and I would say I've seen such elementary renderings of various designs on other ko-kinko pieces. ex: http://www.nona.dti.ne.jp/~sword/tuba/t0373take.html I've also seem some rather elementary wave renderings on early works of a very big artist who later became partially known for his wave design that would pass down through generations of his school. I would give my Omiya Bizen Morokage sword for that one tsuba, and have it be a permanent member of my small collection. I think the ko-kinko under discussion is just a simple nice enough tsuba that would look good on a muted uchigatana koshirae of the time with a thin "throw away" saya. _________________________________________________________________ That said, I must agree with Ford about the NBTHK fittings shinsa these days. Hozon papers don't really mean much to me any more unless they are to confirm a mei. I've also seen too many known modern pieces get 'Hozon' and also shake and bake tsuba get 'Hozon', and some attributions that are certifiably wrong by up to 200 years. What is up NBTHK... too many Hozon submissions and getting kinda sloppy about the process? I still respect their level of shinsa at the Tokubetsu Hozon level, where they seem to give things much more attention. But that is just $600 straight out and doesn't make sense for anything worth $3000 or less. Let me stress that the last decade I've been very impressed by several of the Yoshikawa led Fittings Team for their NTHK. They're sort of brutal and may pink some things they shouldn't, but their fittings papers are very respectable opinions (often on the conservative side). For fittings, very agreeable alternative to the NBTHK Hozon these days- though old school collectors may not embrace it.

Well, I thought it fairly straight forward. I would have dated it pretty much on the margin timeline between ko and not ko, but otherwise... yes, kinko. Simple, yet nice. Wav pattern of tandem waves. 3-3 at top 2-2 middle 2-2 middle 4-4 at bottom kozuka ana looks original since it doesn't cut through what would have been the 2-2 pattern at that point, but it does cut into the seppa dai indicating a slimmer saya. Therefore maybe I would have given it the benefit of the doubt as ko-kinko. Don't think it is 3 piece construction, but hard to tell from photos. Mr. Bernard's on the other hand has the small left and right pegs on the seppa dai, so is it 3 piece? Interesting motif. Ko kinko can be very simple but pleasing. Now the ko-ko-kinko like Boris and Mariusz have... that is the rare rare stuff. Learn the kantei points on those things and burn them into memory.

Ted, Thank you for the clarification. I had started to ask whether the hada was acid etched or not. It looked better than some of the production blades, but the puzzle pieces weren't quite fitting. I'd also wondered if it might be an effort by one of the independent american smiths, but thought the geometry looked more on the side of an acutal Japanese blade than one of the US well intentioned hybrids.