FZ1

Japanese Spears - Polearms and their use in old Japan (Knutsen & Knutsen) ISBN - 1-901-1903-56-7 Hardback with dust cover, Good condition - £50 GBP Japanese Art Signatures - A Handbook and Practical Guide (James Self & Nobuko Hirose) ISBN 1-891640-09-7 Paperback, Good condition (slight fading on spine, but hardly used) - £20 GBP Postage at cost to wherever you are, your choice of service. Thanks, Jon

Sorry to hear about your hassles Lee. I've had long delays with shipping blades in and out of the UK (Border Force was the delay every time), but not with any other items. I think John's explanation is probably the most likely, i.e. carriers are maxed-out by increased business due to the Royal Mail strike. Let's be honest, DHL, UPS, etc, are not efficient at the best of times; even worse when overloaded. My theory is that they make their money through the quantity of parcels shifted, not quality of service, so they don't give a monkeys about individual delays or losses. Cheers, Jon

SOLD Thanks to the buyer Jon

There's a link to the video in my original post, a link to the catalogue and a link to a catalogue extract.

I'll be honest Alex, the only images I have are Pablo's, so I didn't feel comfortable about reproducing them all here, hence just putting one up and linking to his catalogue. I have no clue with photography, and his are so much better than anything I could aspire to!

Thanks Grev - Feel free to PM me with an offer! I have offers from non-UK members, but (as per the original post) my experience of exporting is really stressful, hence preferring a UK sale if possible. The last one I sent sat in UK customs for a month, with UPS being completely unhelpful about updating me. Fortunately, the buyer was very patient and very understanding, but the horror stories about UK Border Force impounding stuff concern me. To be fair to those members who have made an offer, I don't want to delay making a decision, but just giving UK-based collectors a final option! Cheers, Jon

Any UK offers before I respond to existing non-UK ones? Jon

Thanks to members that have made offers. I'll review and respond in the next few days. Cheers, Jon

I forgot to say that I'm open to offers on this. Cheers, Jon

Kelly is excellent - highly recommended. Jon

For your consideration, a wakizashi by Yamato no Kami Fujiwara Tadayuki (Hôei era: 1704~1711) (preferably a UK sale due to potential hassle with UK border force, but will sell outside the UK if the buyer is patient - it took a month to clear last time I exported a sword). The blade has NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon papers and the koshirae, tsuba and fuchi-kashira all have NTHK-NPO Kanteisho papers. I bought it from Pablo (Unique Japan) and there is a video of it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY25ggvrePE&t=2s Pablo does a great job of providing excellent photos and info for his swords, so all the info is in the catalogue extract, shared here: https://1drv.ms/b/s!Au0p7phbocIZgekOWoXkWLXc8sfinQ?e=bwZCHP (If that link doesn't work, email me and I'll send you the 10Mb file). Alternately, its in Catalogue 36 on Pablo's site here: https://new.uniquejapan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Unique-Japan-Sword-Catalogue-36.pdf Note: The catalogue is huge at about 125MB, so will take a while to download. Search for ujwa251 in the catalogue. It comes with a shirasya, the papers, sword bags and a printed catalogue extract booklet, as supplied by Pablo as part of the original sale. I'm asking just £2,500 GBP, plus shipping or delivery at cost, for a quick sale. Cheers, Jon

Indeed, Colin it can be a bit of a trek sometimes. I know our American friends think that the distances we travel around the UK are small, but given the congested roads and cost of fuel, it can take longer and cost more than travelling three times the distance in the USA! However, for private sales, I've found travelling to be a double-edged sword (pun intended!) Yes, it costs a fortune in petrol and takes ages, but I've had the pleasure of meeting other UK collectors / NMB members when travelling to buy or sell swords. Jon

@Matsunoki @Lee997 and anyone else in the East - How about an East Anglian nihonto get-together over the autumn/winter?

Hi Lee, Several of the "Western oriented" Japanese dealers are very helpful when exporting/importing and for those that aren't, you can always use an agent, although that does put the cost up. This forum is a good source of info regarding people's experiences with various dealers. Keep an eye on the "For Sale" forum ("Follow" it so you get emailed about new posts) and you can also post in the "Wanted" forum, specifying a preference for a UK purchase. Some UK collectors prefer to sell within the UK because of the hassle you mentioned in export/import (me included after some bad experiences when exporting!) As you get to know more collectors (e.g. via the To Ken Society of GB or or here on the NMB), let them know what you're looking for and they will be able to keep an eye out for you. Cheers, Jon

There are lots of blades out there with no rust, so unless this one is a "must have" for you, then I'd suggest waiting until one with no rust sparks your interest. Jon

@Paz- Amongst other things, he acts as a "middle man" for auctions and dealers in Japan who don't sell outside Japan, taking care of export licenses, paperwork, etc. I'm sure he does loads of other things, but I've only used his services for auctions & dealers I'm sure he won't mind me posting the signature block from his emails.

Kelly Schmidt is an agent living in Japan. He (obviously) charges for his services, but he is someone "on the ground" who makes a living from exporting and minimising problems. Yes, its a more expensive way of buying, but the reduction in hassle and worry is worth it for me. I believe several board members use his services and he's also a member on here (I think). Cheers, Jon

Thanks for the tip Dan, but I'm looking for an Ubu one without the hitsu-ana (yeah, I know I'm fussy! ) Cheers, Jon

Stalled, Paz! All leads have gone nowhere so far, but this is a long-term/retirement project, so I'm in no hurry.

Can't find "Morning Dew", but there is an archived image for an Aoe sword called "Dew on the Grass" (below) Cheers, Jon

I've not heard that suggestion before, Thomas, it's a very interesting theory. Do you have any sources, please? (I'm not disputing it, I'd just like to read-up on it ) Thanks, Jon

Thanks Marco - I also found him via Facebook

The link isn't working for me, Dan, so do you have any contact info for David please? (Pref email or Website?) Thanks.

Thanks for the pointers gents, much appreciated. Doesn't need to be flash, just functional .... a bit like me!

Hi all, I'm looking for a "traditional" shaped tachi tsuba. It's for a project not a collection, so I'm not looking for high quality (but needs to be a LOT better than some of the things I've seen on Yahoo Auctions - some of them look so horrible, they seem to have been cast using cheese! ) Images below are purely to show what I'm thinking of when I say "traditional" shape. Please PM with any possibles. Thanks Jon