Seth

Hey everyone, just pitched the show to my wife and it looks like we will be joining as well! She's booking the hotels and getting the flights as I type.

I agree with Charles, it looks to Chinese to me from what I can see.

I was keeping an eye on this as well and was extremely surprised when it went for what it did. You would think when they said they would not guarantee the mei it would have capped it but I guess not. The blade itself would be a good candidate for gimei. I agree with null on the similarities with the echizen the 3rd. In regards to the file marks that’s a tough one. I have 2 papered 3rd blades and the file marks are reversed between the two. Unless the generation attribution is incorrect it would lead me to believe variation is expected? Decent gimei.

It’s a real “sword” but it is not an authentic nihonto. So based on your question yes it is fake. Did you have any luck removing the tsuka?

It is signed Nagamitsu, but it looks crude to me even for an Ichihara Nagamitsu blade. Can you provide pictures of the mounts also? I do believe the blade is authentic but the mei has me confused just based off my personal experience. Any stamps on it that you can see? You will find this helpful. Japanese SWORDSMITH - Ichihara Nagamitsu (japaneseswordindex.com)

Hey Adam, is he only interested in war mounts? I have two pieces in my collection that do not fit. Both are in shirasaya and in polish. Mumei and gimei. PM if interested.

I am having trouble picking the details out. I have messed with the mei as much as I can.

I am having a really hard time seeing it but here is yours next to a papered example of mine. Keep in mind it is signed Yasutsugu oite echizen saku kore. Maybe not helpful.

I might have found a new use for my photo software. Does this help any? Not that Dale's wasn't good enough just curious. I used AI.

Charlie, if you can’t get it off that’s a bad sign and typical from what I have personally seen with many Chinese swords. I swear they put them on with hammers, it’s all mass produced one size fits all. Could be wrong though just my thoughts.

I might be wrong, and I am sure someone will correct me swiftly if that's the case, but I do not believe this is of Japanese origin. Seems very crude and the mei and habaki look way off. Can you slide the habaki off the blade?

What Stephen was saying is if it stands as a mumei blade it isn't worth sending off. As a fellow newbie, you would be better off spending money on books or a blade in polish. If you take the money spent on this blade, your Nagamitsu, and future work on either of the blades you could easily buy a nice example of your choosing that you could actually study and appreciate. Wish I would have wasted less money on junk(not saying your stuff is junk) when I started, it adds up quickly and the next thing you know you could have bought a nice piece. With that being said it's still a cool piece for $10!

That popped up the day after purchased a blade from them and then it shipped 20 days after which is the quickest they have ever shipped lol. Maybe the move had the opposite effect? I have never purchased tsuba from Japan so nothing to add on to that.

After reading through this thread when it popped into my feed I looked into my mumei type 98. I believe you are correct on the \ being 5 if you haven't already come to that conclusion My nakago, fuchi, and habaki are filed with \I + III. The tsuba and tseppa are marked with 63. No stamps that I can find FWIW.

Should I be concerned about this? It is in the body of the listing. Or is this just the actual seller's notes and not buyee terms? Will be my first purchase through buyee if I win of course.