francois2605

Hello Erick and welcome to the board and this hobby Have you already removed the tsuka (handle) ? It would be helpful to see pictures of the nakago (tang) and if there is a mei (signature). At first glance, the hamon looks very nice. I also like the habaki with the 2 different metals (that's a good sign IMO). The tsuba is unusual for a shin-gunto, maybe that is a civil variant ? Others will be able to tell. If you remove the tsuka, you may find matching numbers on the tsuba, seppa (washers) and tang. The color of the sarute tells me it's not original to the koshirae. Edit: Bruce Pennington maintains a very useful reference document Stamps of the Japanese Sword listing the different types of stamps one can find on military swords.

Could this be a typo ? Hard to believe the book sold for that much

Thanks for sharing, this sword is absolutely stunning

There seems to be at least one exception to the "Woody doesn't polish gendaito" rule:

Thanks for those explanations Bruno. I had no idea

Is it possible to receive NBTHK awards without being a properly trained togishi ? Because Massimo reportedly did and I have a hard time squaring this with the fact he's not traditionally trained. Edit: is it possible that you're mistaking Massimo with Pierluigi Ponzio ?

Very nice sword, Volker It ticks a lot of my boxes: nice hada, gunto 3 koshirae and Nagamitsu sword.

Bruce, Nagamitsu = "Ichihara Ichiryushi Nagamitsu" as per http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/naga.htm

Just found the original pictures from this WAF thread (from BenVK): source

Linda, you'll find some pictures for a katana forged by this smith here: You'll also find a section about this swordsmith in this document by Mecox: And finally a close-up showing the hada of the sword from the first link:

Well... the WW2 ended in May 1945 in Europe, not in Asia. Your sword was crafted 3 months before the end of the WW2 which happened on Sept, 2nd in Japan.

Well I didn't because the price was very reasonable, I must be the exception

I love the strokes on the signature, this is beautiful. In case you don't have the Slough:

Yes. From Sesko's excellent encyclopedia of Japanese swords:

Very nice, the difference between your first 2 shots is like night and day !

I find it too difficult to shoot a sword with direct lightning. Instead I shoot when the sword is lit by the (preferably low) ambiant light to avoid very high contrasts. This also requires a very long exposure (10+ secs), low ISO (to avoid noise), a tripod and a remote (or 2-sec delay). I believe that the end result better shows the hataraki in those conditions. Here's an example (edited in Lightroom).

Steve, just a friendly advice: don't buy anything off eBay unless you know exactly what you're buying. The fact that you "were on the fence", don't know that a gendaito stands for "traditionally made from tamahagane", can't visually differentiate between a showato and gendaito probably means that you should read more about the topic before making another purchase. There was zero risk with this purchase: Eric is a honest and trusted seller, the sword is legit. Again, this is just a friendly advice to ensure you spend your money wisely and with confidence.

So excited by the upcoming sales and book. I feel like a kid at Xmas

This is just awful, the worst being that the offender seems very happy with the end result.

Steve, You can read more about the different ways of rating swordsmiths here. I personally don't pay too much attention to "1 million vs 2 million" comparisons, the value is not absolute: you'll see that some swordsmiths are rated high by someone and low by someone else. Of course it's better if your sword is signed by a highly rated smith but that's a plus, the sword should be considered on its own merits first.

https://ebay.fr/usr/ericowazamono

Eric Molinier is a super nice french guy from New-York and always very honest when describing items. I consider him one of the most trustworthy sellers of nihonto on eBay. His swords are among the best you can get via eBay.

Since someone mentioned the Evangelion sword exhibition, here are some pictures I shot in 2014 while the exhibition was in Paris. https://photos.app.goo.gl/RHZYxRNUFnuPcJ8C2

That was my plan, thanks Barry I already sent him an email.