Utopianarian

Bob, You are correct. I do want to send many of the blades I have to shinsa. I missed this years SanFran due to a loss of a Loved one. I also was looking forward to taking a high quality signed Aoe blade with me which wasn’t ready yet for shinsa. I have a few others I want to submit and I guess have been making excuses over the past few years. Also nervous mailing expensive pieces that are hard to prove value for insurance reasons if lost or stolen if mailed to Japan for shinsa. Do you know how I would go about proving value of a blade that has not been authenticated yet for insurance purposes. I can’t just claim an assumed price before mailing without receipts, documentation etc.. or Shinsa which is the point…

Interesting collection of swords. I am sure this was probably mentioned on this board. The owner knew Darcy has mention in honor of him on his website and has a few of the swords Darcy sold him. Many beautiful pieces with pictures. Interesting read and many Masterpieces. Here is the link https://www.kinghouse.sg/collection-category/samurai-swords

I have been trying to research this one for some time now. I have come to the conclusion that this must be a Hankei mumei blade. It has all the features of Soshu style work and the running Itame and burl Omokume pattern is identical to the works of Hankei. The activity in the hamon is similar as well. The overall shape of the blade didn’t quite set well with me. It didn’t quite have the shape of the older blades and seemed a little off. Here are some comparison pics of the running itame and omokume pattern. The first pic is Hankei

Maybe Bizen Yoshii

Guess 3: Sue-Mihara. Enju. ko-uda

interesting to watch. I don’t know how accurate this data is but interesting none the less… if anybody has any other info please chime in https://youtube.com/watch?v=2Tyrfr_BFcA&feature=share

Thank you Jan

Having hard time with this mei. Any assistance appreciated

That paper wrap under tsuka ito looks newish which made me also doubt. I’ve never seen that exposed paper look so newish and bright

Thank you John. You are my go to man with the Guntos… You know your stuff!! I was surprised they are real 😳

Pic

Pic

More pics

More pics

More pics

More pics

More pics

The gunto scabbard the blade fits in nicely like it was made for the blade and was told it was originally with the blade. The rest of the fittings were not original to the blade and were thrown in the deal. Some of the fittings look to me like they were artificial aged and the wrap on the tsuka feel different than the silk wrap on my other guntos so probably cotton. The other fittings are questionable. I am not an expert on Gunto fittings. I was just interested in the blade purchase. Here are pics for those of you into Gunto fittings.

Well, I figure I’m new and would give it a shot and I’m always as student learning. I don’t think I will ever achieve beyond that..

Very hard to make out the Hada

More pics

Nagasa 71cm. Nakago 21.5cm. Sori 1.6cm. Motohaba 3.26cm. Sakihaba 1.98cm. Motokasane 0.68cm sakikasane 0.45cm kissaki 3.2cm the appearance of the blade in hand doesn’t have the dull dry lifeless look to the metal and doesn’t look like it has sustained fire damage or evidence of retemper but the chip is almost close to going completely thru hamon line. The hamon appears suguha and present throughout the entire blade. Here are a few pics.

Michael, thank you for your time and knowledge. You may very well be correct in your assessment. Once I receive the blade I will have a better guess than pictures.

I wouldn’t necessarily say you can discount the horimono on a worn down blade with patina build up unevenly in the crevasse’s which in turn is not worn down evenly in all areas of the hada. The patina build up on one side or edge and not so much on the other may show a skew in evenness on top of uneven wear. Fresh horimono of this type almost have a 3 dimensional effect to it versus one with uneven heavy wear. Here is a Kamakura blade which horimono is worn down showing unevenness and appears less than quality horimono which prob was not the case 700 years ago. The blade pictured was also polished without patina build up in the horimono crevasses

I didn’t pay a lot for it. Thought it was one to keep me occupied in my spare time and study it and share with the board. It’s probably toast with a few interesting features