ChrisW

Yup, I confirmed its manufacture with my polisher then found a nice and fitting habaki for it! Unfortunately, my polisher bills are coming due so I need to move things if I am to afford them. If any of the other blades interest you, DM me and I'll give you a healthy discount!

#9 Description repeated + photo attached: 9. 26" katana of WWII origin. Mumei, no stamps. No mounts but habaki and paper tube saya. Unlike #6, this one is clearly a gendaito. It has evident particle activity in both the hamon and hada scattered about. The gunome pattern is much more orderly and well-arranged. There is no evidence of the characteristic dark shadows that one would see in showato. The blade has a nice gold-plate habaki. Condition is solid but with several nail catchers and a solid patina covering the whole blade. A Mino-Seki blade with the appropriate yasurime. Strangely two mekugi-ana, with the top one showing a rough burr that would make it unlikely to be used; my theory being that this blade was ordered for one set of mounts and then changed before final fitting to another mount set. No partial trade on this one. Asking price is $1300.

Hello fellow NMB members! In anticipation of several events and change-ups in my inventory of nihonto, I am putting these out here for sale. Prices are negotiable, I am open to fair offers, and even partial trades where indicated. If you want more pictures of a particular item, I will do my best to accommodate! Shipping/insurance will be discussed but generally CONUS will be the simplest and quickest to receive. Shipping will be USPS for CONUS and the rates are usually no more than $100 with full insurance. All swords will be 'mummified' in bubble-wrap, cardboard.. whatever I deem necessary to make sure it gets to you in the same condition that I sent it out. Out-of-country sales will depend on your local laws. All sales are final. Please use your best judgement. I'll oblige and do my best to deliver satisfactory photos and excellent shipping. None of these blades are papered, most are considered projects. They are in the condition that they were received in by me, with only gentle application of choji. They all have potential to be restored fully and will be free of fatal flaws as far as possible within my experience. Polishing, like on any project, can reveal flaws after the fact. For those, I am not responsible. If you have an opinion on a sword or believe something is in error, please DM me and I will correct it. I am not an expert, nor will I ever be. If it is about the quality of my photographs, I will do my best to get you more if that is your interest. I apologize for my usual rough-shod photography skills; there is not much I can do about that... short of getting a professional setup or a new phone; but the photos should be enough to get you an idea of sugata and condition. Again, more are available via DMs. If it is just commentary about the quality of said photos, then keep it to yourself s'il vous plait! Lastly, each sale will net the NMB a $50 donation to help our beloved NMB with its planned upgrades. To reserve a piece for purchase, please put a reply here in this thread and/or then DM me directly. First come, first served! FINALLY, without further ado: 1. 28" katana in shirasaya. Signed "Tsuda Echizen no Kami Sukehiro", would need a polish to fully appreciate. Signature is unlikely to be first generation, more likely second or third or gimei. Notare hamon, unknown hada. Appears suriage. I predicate my opinion on the mei based on the fact that it is missing the classic long osaka-yakidashi of the first generation; instead only possessing a short one that disappears into the nakago. However, I have been known to be wrong. Will consider partial trade up to $1k in value. Asking price is $2500. 2. 19" wakizashi in substitute saya. Signed "Bizen no Kami Osafune Naga[xxxx]" with the rest having been cut off. Likely to be Bizen Nagamitsu since the work seems most appropriate for him. Sleepy old polish with lots of beautiful activity visible still. Pre-1530. Haven't had a chance to do deep research on this one to narrow it down. Has a fukure/ware flaw in the spine. Suriage. No partial trade on this one. Asking price is $1800. 3. 27" katana in partially restored gunto mounts. Mumei, but likely to be Yamato. Needs a polish as previous owner acid-polished it. Gold-plate habaki, silver mon on tsuka. Blade is likely to be late 1500/early 1600's. Several pits that are unlikely to come out with a polish but still a fine blade. Ubu. Paper stock saya. Partial trade up to $500. Asking price is $2200. 4. 23.25" o-suriage early to mid Kamakura tachi in assembled mounts. Mumei. Likely to be Bizen den. Circa 1200's. Decent assembled mounts with gold-trimmed Omori fuchigashira and Namban tsuba. This is a greatly o-suriaged blade, likely having been cut down somewhere in the Muromachi period. The boshi on this one is a little thin, but still present. In recent polish. The opinions on this piece come straight from my polisher; before that, I thought it a late Muromachi/early Edo boy's blade. A rare piece to be sure. No partial trade on this one. Asking price is $3450. 5. 24.5" katana in remnants of WWII leather-cased mounts. Signed "Kunihiro". Almost certainly a gimei since nearly ANY Kunihiro is a big big name smith, with most of them working late Kamakura. The biggest name Kunihiro worked in the 1600's strangely. There is a remote possibility it is one of them, but the placement of the mei leads me to believe it is gimei. However, it is still an older blade that is likely to be late Kamakura/Muromachi. Suriage with 2 mekugi-ana. Notare hamon. Could use a polish to revive the masame hada. Has kirikomi. Nice tsuba. Partial trade up to $700. Asking price is $2200. 6. 26" katana of WWII origin. Mumei, no stamps. It is my opinion that this blade is Showato, but it does show some signs of hand-forging including a very thick particle line in the hamon. It is in a somewhat amateur-ish polish with some warping of the geometry but would make for a very fine wall hanger. A good piece to find mounts for. It is a very interesting styled gunome. Paper stock saya. No Partial trade on this one. Asking price is $1000. 7. 17" wakizashi in American-made saya. Signed "Nobukuni" - the particulars of this signature, particularly the kanji used purport it to be one of the Oei Nobukuni, which if believed to be true would make for a very nice restoration project. Two meguki-ana. It does have a Soshu-esque hamon in it and a sugata that suggests an old blade. However, there are a few areas of damage to the edge and an S-bend in the blade. Ergo... the low price on this one. No partial trade on this one. Asking price is $700. 8. 11.25" tanto in restored mounts. Mumei. Kanmuri-otoshi shape, which along with the nakago, suggests the Nambokucho era. 2 mekugi-ana. BEAUTIFUL mounts which suggest that the habaki is not original. The saya is a striped alternating shiny and matte black lacquer with horn accents. Gorgeous hand-painted red wooden grain pattern tsuka. Why they would paint the wood grain as opposed to use real wood or a veneer? Your guess is as good as mine. Rare shape would make for a fun project. Unknown school since hada is not visible. Hamon appears to be a very straight and well-executed suguha. No partial trade on this one. Asking price is $1500. 9. 26" katana of WWII origin. Mumei, no stamps. No mounts but habaki and paper tube saya. Unlike #6, this one is clearly a gendaito. It has evident particle activity in both the hamon and hada scattered about. The gunome pattern is much more orderly and well-arranged. There is no evidence of the characteristic dark shadows that one would see in showato. The blade has a nice gold-plate habaki. Condition is solid but with several nail catchers and a solid patina covering the whole blade. A Mino-Seki blade with the appropriate yasurime. Strangely two mekugi-ana, with the top one showing a rough burr that would make it unlikely to be used; my theory being that this blade was ordered for one set of mounts and then changed before final fitting to another mount set. No partial trade on this one. Asking price is $1300. (Limit hit, will upload #9 below!) Thanks for looking! ~Chris

Definitely a Chinese fake, the damascus patterned blade is the most obvious red flag among many many other issues.

At best, it is a fragment of a larger blade. At worst, a post-war souvenir piece. Either way, it has sentimental value with your family! I am leaning towards it being a souvenir piece. But if there's metal particle activity, then it might be a blade fragment.

Though gimei, it may still be a sword meriting restoration. I would inquire with a traditionally trained togishi (Japanese sword polisher) and get their opinion on it.

Hello Nick! I'll reach out to you in just a moment ~Chris

Looks like fresh "spiderweb" rust. Address that with some isopropyl and then oil it. May not remove it all, but will stop it from getting worse hopefully.

I saw that video too! Cringed a bit when the curator demonstrated the blade's flexibility as if it were a European spring steel. I had a feeling it was Shinto Sukesada...

After seeing the new photos and the other's opinions, I have to agree. While these examples approximate the appearance of Japanese swords, they are not Japanese made. There's too many finer details that don't quite add up as Sam pointed out. I also agree again with Sam though: appreciate them for what they are and the bond they represent with someone you care about! Treasure them and treat them gently. Such memories are precious.

Agreed on this. The crude ito, the iron-hardware-esque menuki, simple tsuba point towards possibly Satsuma Rebellion mounts.

Well.. for the blade, there is really only one level of restoration that is appropriate. A full polish, or none. As for whether the blade deserves it? That depends on you. The mounts are going to need a fair amount of work- a rewrap of the tsuka at minimum, lacquer work on the saya. I would say that the saya and tsuka core itself need assessment on feasibility. They may be too thin and worn to be restored. The tsuba and fittings are pretty nice!

My personal preference is Bizen, Bungo, and Soshu in that order. Soshu tends to be the favorite of a lot of people for many reasons. I've sold a Mihara blade before. They're pretty good for study.

Hard to tell from the photos, but at a glance, these appear to be Japanese made swords. Paired together as a 'daisho'. The longer one appears to be possibly WWII-made, just by the length and the shape of the nakago but it could also be older than that. I would say that you should take some more photos. Do NOT clean or attempt to 'improve' the blades without first reading the care information on this page: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/faq/

I think it also depends on the polisher, their workload, and the anticipated amount of rework required. I only used one polisher, but I've never inquired about kissaki reshaping. You could find one, show the picture, and ask for a quote perhaps?

I'm afraid this is a clear case of a Chinese fake/reproduction. The Japanese never put kanji on a blade in this manner.

I think that accepting something that is a wakizashi would greatly increase your chances of finding something within budget then. There are plenty of longer Muromachi wakizashi in acceptable polish with papers that come in shirasaya.

My humble opinion would be to talk to several dealers (especially any that might be close to you -- moreso if it can be within driving distance) and find a piece that you like a lot. Then appreciate it in person, and finally work towards a price that you can live with. Setting out with a price in mind first is good for the wallet, but may not be as good for satisfaction with what you might end up with. A signed and papered Muromachi katana in old polish is a possibility. But a new polish alone with most polishers these days runs for a lot more than just 2k. The little to no flaws part is also a big factor in this case; as most lower condition blades of that eras will have flaws from being polished down. For example, I have an attributed Den Oshu Hoju katana in shirasaya in old polish for $2200 but if someone asked me for what you're looking for at that price level, I would politely decline even an effort to search for them. There is just nothing left at that price point to make the search worth the effort. At the price level you're looking at, you're probably going to have to accept a less than optimal polish or a blade with a fair few flaws or both. Its nothing personal to you, it is just how the market is. I would also probably be acceptive that it is almost certainly going to be in shirasaya, rather than koshirae. Since even minimally appropriate koshirae adds more than 1k value to a blade. My best advice would be to try to approach I suggested at the start of my post. You should end up with something that you'll enjoy a lot more and have a more solid resale value when you decide to move it on!

Looks almost like a plug bayonet, but perhaps made with the broken portion of a blade. That "mei" is almost certainly dremel-cut though. Maybe someone's home project to recycle some steel.

I'm not sure I am seeing the Bizen assertion here. If Roger Robertshaw said that, then shows what I know! He is pretty much the expert on Hizento. Wherein the US are you located? Looks Hizento to me. Has a very stout appearance to me with a proper Hizen-style nakago. Thin kawane (there is loose grain/possible core steel showing) which is an indication of a Hizen blade as they are made with very thin skin steel. I can't speak to the veracity of the signature; but you have a decent example of a Hizento at the very least.

Call me an optimist, but I think Andrew can pull it off!

Hi Randy, If you're looking for an in-hand opinion of your sword, I live in Indiana just south of Indianapolis and I could show you several examples of legitimate Japanese swords for you to compare yours to if you like. DM me if this interests you! ~Chris

Looks like a great time Sam! I know its a bit of a slog, but you should come to the Chicago Sword Show and stop by the Indiana island at the show! Would love to get a chance to chat in person.

Beautiful set.

I could see an argument for either, but having been dealing with a lot of Jumyo lately, I would agree that this looks like a Muromachi Jumyo den blade. The gunome/togari, the higaki yasurime, the longer nakago, and the styling of the boshi all point towards this. Early Kanemoto (2nd and later) lineage was a bit more formulaic with their sanbonsugi, which I am not seeing so much here; unless the wear is significant and the hamon has lost much of its original form. This might be a fun one to consider for Shinsa in my opinion! If you do pursue that, please let us know the results!