randomnobody

Forgive me for bringing up an old thread, but I was just leaving feedback on good ol' eBay, and was informed (by a rather intrusive notice) that changes have been made to the effect that sellers are no longer able to leave negative or neutral feedback, nor can they see how individuals have rated their services. Is this new since the incident initially discussed here? Was it, perhaps, brought about due to this incident? That would be quite the achievement, if so.

If i may be so bold, I had noticed this particular auction by Swordsman and Archer a few days ago, and was intrigued. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0239285467 It's in rather rough shape, with "minor ji-ware" at that, but the sori had me caught. The details mentioned that a sori this deep could result from re-tempering, but that there are no signs of this. I rather wonder how one might determine this? Perhaps it's in one of those books I haven't had a chance to acquire yet... Anyway, the auction ended with no sale, and I'm thinking if it gets re-listed, perhaps with a slightly decreased Buy It Now, I may just have to rearrange my finances a bit... The nakago is a bit funny looking to me, but perhaps this is just another style I'm not familiar with? Then with the rust and ji-ware (is that it in the one photo? Looks nasty, whatever it is...) it'll need a thorough polish to clean up...but I think I might see a healthy (and rather nice-looking) hamon under there? I'm not sure, hence why I didn't buy it, and that crack there has me worried, too; but this price is the peak of my budget and this sword might be okay for all I know, so I figured since it ended with no buyer (on that note, one of the biggest things that kept me off of this was the fact that nobody bid...) I'd get some opinions here, perhaps. So, did I over-analyze and miss something, or has my caution spared me for once? Bear in mind, I'm not in the market for the best of the best, or for any art value or financial investment. All I want is something old that can clean up and make for a good display and conversation piece. Would this have been worthwhile for that much? Forgive my noobishness, as usual.

Holy... Wow, that's nice. As expected of kanetoyo, eh? I'm not going to bother trying to guess what it goes for, it'll be outrageous. I'll just be here wishing I had those few dollars more than the other guy.

He left you negative feedback because you didn't rate him five stars on all services? That's ridiculous. Maybe you can ask eBay to nullify the feedback?

Or it could very well arrive the next day. Who knew? Anyway, for those of you who might be interested, here's a photobucket album with some of the better pictures I was able to take (I am by no means a professional, even amateur photographer, but I do snap a few shots every blue moon, especially since acquiring a new camera, but even 10 megapixels with advanced autofocus and blur resistance can't help me, I'm afraid...) of the erm..."item" for your analysis. http://s190.photobucket.com/albums/z179 ... ody/sword/ (let me know if that link doesn't work; I'm still new to the whole photobucket thing, just don't want to drain bandwidth here over this) I can say that it feels a subsantial hunk of steel, whatever it is, and is a bit more reusted than the auction photos let on, most of it fairly new rust. I took an opportunity to attack it with some cheap-o uchiko I got in one of those "free maintenance kits" with some cheap-o production piece I bought a year or so back (I figure if it's crap it won't hurt and at this point even if it's something halfway decent ( ) then it's at the point where it won't hurt anymore, anyway) and a good bit of rust came off onto the tissue I was using, nice and orange rust. There's still a good bit left on the blade, of course, that I'm sure only a polish will do anything to. I don't possess the capacity to do it myself but might see if a friend wants the practice, just for fun. At any rate, here are some shots of mine, the link to the auction should still be in the first post of this thread for comparison and basic measurements. I'm not sure what to make of the nakago, and what I can make out as possibly the hamon looks like it might be real enough, the rust pattern (far less on what I'm calling the hamon than the rest of the blade) has me curious, I think I read something about the effects of steel hardness on rust formation, but can't recall...) and while I thought I saw signs of yokote in one of the auction shots, there isn't one visible, and the kissaki is a rather odd shape to me, I don't think it's supposed to be a shobu, but it's a bit more gradual than most shinogi-zukuri's I've seen. A closer look after initially submitting this post (hooray for the "Edit" button) reveals what may be a sign of once having a yokote, but perhaps a crappy polish removed it? I can almost make out a point where the blade sort of dips into the kissaki...but it's not terribly obvious. Anyway, have a look for yourselves. Whatever it is, it seems to have been made well enough, once upon a time, but I'm not seeing Japan in the picture, myself; save perhaps a WW2 semi-mass-production model at the very best. Disclaimer: I have no idea what I'm talking about. Obvious, no? Seriously, my only real exposure up to this point has been modern productions, the best I own being a Hanwei Practical Katana. Take from that what you will. I do have one antique, though, which I actually bought from slavia631; I believe it had been thought by members here to be a Shinto Seki or something to that effect... The thread is somewhere. I'll be quiet now. Oh, thanks in advance for looking and any opinions at all (good, bad, or ugly; I can take it).

No, not yet; shipped on April 23 from Australia via Registered Post, so should arrive within a week. I'll see what it turns out to be when it gets here. Most likely I'll be trying to sell it off for whatever loose change it may fetch...

I have this same problem, I'm afraid. I seem to recall having seen this item mentioned elsewhere, with photos, but cannot recall where now. It may even have been another item entirely. I do remember it was a beautiful thing, and far outside of my own limits in price. On that note, I would love to make you a good offer on it, but I am afraid I could not possibly do so at this time. Unless you want to hold it for a few more months? Naturally I would never expect you to do such a thing, nor would I even think to sincerely ask it. I'll be sad to see it go, but hopefully it goes to somebody who can better care for it than I can. One of these days...

Oh, wow, so you are the person behind these auctions? I must say, your auctions have always been among my favorite to view; the blades are gorgeous, the photos are excellent, so much information, too. I aspire to some day bid on one of your auctions. I'm particularly waiting for a nice naginata naoshi to show up; I've seen you post a few in the past and they remain my favorite examples, so I'm hoping to one day acquire one for myself. I'm glad to know you post here.

I'm also watching the first auction, mainly just to see where it goes, as the blade is quite pretty to look at. Showa22 is one of my favorite sellers to browse for eye candy, but most of their stuff tends to go for more than I'm willing or able to pay for it. I think Brian said it best, overall.

Hello all; the impulsive friend here. I must admit I did know better than to bother with this but I'm afraid a matter of circumstances left me with somewhat impaired cognitive abilities. I won't get into what or why, but suffice to say, it had been a long weekend. I needed something sharp and pointy, but had no money, and this was cheap with a bit of character, to boot. I was disappointed with the poor photos and wanted to get a better look at this thing, so I figured I'd throw out just one bid and see where it got me. Unfortunately, I won. So now it's paid for, and should be on the way shortly. I intend to look it over, learn from it what I can, and throw it right back on eBay, just as Grey Doffin has said. That is, unless there's something the photos aren't showing, which I doubt anyway. I'm afraid this was really just me losing to my own curiosity and boredom. I'll do better next time, I promise. I believe it was Brian who pointed out the shape of the nakago, which also had me intrigued during the auction. It was among the things I was wanting a better look at. I don't intend to do anything with this piece, short of give it back to eBay and hope I can at least break even, but if it turns out to have something that intrigues me (whatever it may be) then I may just use it as a base to learn polishing. Especially if it's worthless to begin with. Either way, this was certainly not intended as any sort of investment or proper collecting, merely a matter of something to look at, then pass on to the next person. Thanks to all for sharing their ideas. I may share some better photos once it arrives, if I feel it may be worthwhile at the time. Meantime, since I finally managed to sign up here (procrastination met with technical difficulties) I'll be looking around to see what I can learn from all of you, and hopefully I'll have something really nice to show you all soon. Thanks again.