Seth

It is Huawei but not the one you are thinking of . They actually make nice Chinese blades in the $500-$1000 range. That thing is massive. http://www.huaweiswords.com/

Hey Noah, if you check the dealer showcase section you will see some of the online dealers that are on the board. In my opinion, respected dealers are always preferable to eBay and that becomes even more so with less experience (this includes me). You will be much less likely to get burned or an item that you aren't truly happy with.

Thanks for that Reinhard, just to be clear I had no idea what the mei was as it wasn't disclosed, and just bought for the blade. Which was inexpensive in the realm of nihonto. Jussi, nonetheless it completely slipped my mind on getting some pics for you regardless. I will get some as soon as I can.

OMG, wait, you mean the seller took the listing down cleaned the nakago, and then listed it again... I don't understand the mindset behind that. I wonder what caused them to end the previous auction? I wish it would have escaped now even though gimei. Justice will be semi-served if it doesn't make it back up to $1500 now. Edit: saw the rest of the pictures did he hit the blade with the polishing wheel also?

Horse menuki hiding!

Going to go ahead and put this here since it is becoming a theme . Choshu ju Kiyotaka

Here is another from my collection, I haven't done any research into the mei or school yet. Maybe someone can enlighten me.

It is, isn't it! Sounds good to me, I also have a few to contribute. I didn't mean to hijack this thread, sorry op.

I wasn't sure if this would be the correct location or not for this so I apologize if it isn't. I have a local professional framer(?) that I worked with on an Oshigata and wanted to share the results. I think they did a fantastic job! The pictures don't really do it justice. I have a few more that we are going to play around with so if anyone has any suggestions or ideas that would be great. Just seeing what we can come up with. Sorry for the pictures we decided not to use non reflective glass on this go around to avoid the dull look. Ichihara Nagamitsu

Piers see below, grabbed some better pics just now. I just assumed it might have been a popular design (saddle & whip) although yours is the only other one that I had seen this close albeit reversed from mine (Tachi v Katana?). I try to collect horse themed tosogu. 69 x 66 x 4.8mm

Jean, sorry for the poor picture I was at work when I saw this, so I had to post what I had. But yes, Choshu ju Kiyotaka.

Sorry I know this is off topic, but I couldn't resist. This is one from my collection.

Hey Leon as Steve said above you just want to get the cosmoline off the blade and oil it nothing more. You 100% don't want to touch anything with steel wool and especially the nakago. Any attempts to "restore or clean" will actually lead to lowering the value not increase it. Nice find!

Jussi, I will grab some additional pics when home later but due to the price I suspected gimei was a likely probability or a lesser smith so that doesn't come as a surprise. I would bet my paycheck you are correct . I did purchase it here on nmb but it wasn't claimed as anything special just an in ok polish blade. So with the information provided so far, I need to study the blade and disregard the mei to see where it takes me!

Hey Steve, thank you for looking at it for me. The talcum powder suggestion was along the line of what I was thinking. I think from looking at it that it has been done in the past so I will leave it well enough alone. Again, thank you!

Why ask for an opinion and then go after people when they give an opinion? He made a valid point is it papered? The big question to ask yourself is do you like the sword? If you do then does it really matter? I have blades that I am sure other people would think are junk but they still bring me joy so who cares!

Hey Guys, any tips on making a difficult-to-see mei pop more safely? I tried getting decent pics but even in person, I have trouble picking it out. Also, any translation assistance would be greatly appreciated. I don't know if the mei is original or not. Thanks in advance!

Here is one of mine in traditional koshirae.

Not copper washed its wood (tsunagi), just to keep the fittings together.

Amateur opinion incoming.... I agree with Brian the mei looks sloppy both in strokes and placement compared to what I have seen on the web. My mind does wander to what this blade would look like in polish, it very well could be a nice mumei blade.

Hey Leon, See Bruce's stamp doc below.

Just booked my flights and room so I will be there.

I could be way off base here because what do I know but how long have you had it? I always like to give the blade time to adjust to my climate before I pay any attention to anything like that. But I have no blades mounted in koshirae, the ones I do have koshirae for use tsunagi and I never mount the blade in them, so my experience is lacking. I have a less is more approach. FWIW Edit: Of course, none of the above will fix where the nakago goes through the tsuba... I can read I swear

Hey Keith, can you grab a pic of the overall blade and post it? Both sides if possible?

Fixed.