PietroParis

Thanks a lot Jean! It is clear that, for the foreseeable future, I should abstain from formulating judgements on anything nihonto-related... Cheers, Pietro P.S. the seller describes it as a tanto, not a kogatana. "Cutting edge length 147mm".

Thanks for your answer Grey! I had no doubt that the signature was spurious, but I was curious to figure out whether that "discontinuous" way of carving the lines can ever be considered legitimate, or it definitely means machine-made. Cheers, Pietro

Hi All, This tanto signed "Tanba no Kami Yoshimichi" is currently on sale on eBay. The seller generally has nice stuff, but does not seem to be really specialized in blades Even to a novice like me, the signature looks weird: first of all, it's not where I would expect it to be (i.e., on the tang), and most importantly it has that "dashed" look. Could it perhaps have been added with a drill? Cheers, Pietro

I know that shop, it’s not far from where I live (open only on Saturday and Sunday). I’ve been there a few times to check out the tsuba and the netsuke. Hoping that the owner is not yet fed up with me (I didn’t buy anything so far) I might ask him to show me a sword next time. Cheers, Pietro

Sorry, cellphone typing. Read “would be useful” and “not even sure”.

I have bought and read Yumoto’s book (too basic for even the casual NMB reader) and Nakahara’s “Facts and fundamentals” (a bit hard to retain all that information in one go, but I can use it as reference when needed). I also browsed through the “Connoisseur” book in a library, but I don’t think it be useful to me at this early stage. Besides, my interest in Japanese arts and crafts is still rather wide and unfocused, and I am not even that I would want to become a sword collector (as opposed to owning just one nice item). Cheers, Pietro

Thanks for your advice Steve! By "Clignancourt", do you mean the marché aux puces? The only Japanese antiques store I know there that might sell swords is Galerie Tora Tori. Pricewise, I would not call them "low end"... But maybe you are thinking of a different store that I am not aware of? Cheers, Pietro

Thanks for the tip Jean! I have been a couple of times in Espace 4 to check out their tsuba and netsuke, but I was not aware that they are also Nihonto experts. I’ll visit them again, although I am afraid that their prices are well out of my range... Cheers, Pietro

Thanks to all for your feedback, at least my first impression about the high prices was not wrong. I am certainly not ready to buy my first sword, but I think I will never get there if I don't start viewing good stuff, with somebody knowledgeable telling me what to look at. So far I could only check out the swords on sale at local auction houses, but those are generally out of polish, and even when they are in good shape there is nobody around to ask for guidance. That's why I thought that a competent seller might be of help. Are you aware of any other shops in Paris where I could go and look at good nihonto "in the flesh"? Or maybe there is something like a "sword club"? Cheers, Pietro

Hi All, Today I stumbled on the website of a shop of martial arts equipment in Paris, where they also sell nihonto and tosogu. I suppose that the prices are a bit on the high side (e.g., more than 3000 EUR for unpapered wakizashi!), but the descriptions of the items on sale seem detailed and professional to a novice like me. Does any of the French (and in particular Parisian) members of the forum have any direct experience with this seller? And more generally, are you aware of any experienced nihonto dealers in Paris where one could just drop by and be shown the merchandise? I know of several Japanese Art galleries that also sell swords, but don't expect the owners to be real experts... Thanks in advance for any input! Cheers, Pietro

Hmmm, I see people here commenting on the prices of eBay sales all the time. Maybe you are thinking of the "For Sale" section of the forum? Cheers, Pietro

Thanks for the book suggestion, it went straight to my kindle...

Sorry for the naive question: what is exactly the period in which the green papers were questionable? Thanks, Pietro

Yet another of my beginner questions: were these "decorative" dress swords actually sharpened? Cheers, Pietro

The pictures are not very readable, but the second appears to show that "leak" of body color on the sekigane that I was referring to in my earlier post (then again what do I know, maybe it is some legitimate phenomenon). Cheers, Pietro

BTW, I've found the perfect sword for this tsuba... Cheers, Pietro

A dubious tsuba from the same seller was discussed in this thread. They must have paid for "sponsored" status on eBay so they show up in all of my tsuba searches. Cheers, Pietro

Somebody just bought the zombie tsuba! If the new owner is a member of the forum, I hope they will let us know whatever they find out about it. Cheers, Pietro

Well, my post was certainly not meant as an endorsement of this tsuba, but if somebody here buys it and makes a small fortune and/or interesting discoveries I'll gladly accept a beer...

Hi Steven! Thanks for the tip, but I don't want to be selfish, and I'll leave it for you... Anyway, there's more where that comes from: Also described as "State is very good."

For a mere 70.99$... The description reads "State is very good"... Was this poor thing in a fire? Cheers, Pietro

For the record, a tsuba with the same elephant motif as the one of MFA will be on sale at Zacke at the end of the month. Cheers, Pietro

Now they promote a bunch of very cheap tsuba which keep popping up in my eBay searches as "sponsored items". I am not planning to buy any of those, but I was curious to understand if they are just low quality or downright fakes. Cheers, Pietro

Hi Christian, I am not sure I understand exactly what you are saying here. Anyway, as a beginning tsuba collector I am very interested in learning how to spot the telltale signs that indicate a fake. Cheers, Pietro

I think it's the same tsuba that is on sale here. It might be an artifact of the pictures, but I am puzzled by the way the color of the body appears to "leak" on the sekigane. Should this be viewed as a sign of dodginess? Cheers, Pietro