Deron Douglas

Hi Folks, it's been a while and some of you may remember me. I started selling a couple of my swords (getting into Breitling Watches) and I recently had an auction on ebay and a buyer called shtoos123 slipped through the cracks. Not sure who he/she is, but they bid an astronomical amount on a sword to block/prevent a legitimate buyer from winning. I did a search and found he did this with a number of swords. Not sure of the reasoning. BUT... he did me a favour..HEHEHE... it back fired on him. With this action he saved me money and helped me sell the sword. I got what I was asking plus shipping AND I didn't have to pay eBay FINAL VALUE fees! So THANK YOU shtoos123!!! Actually, a very nice person purchased a great sword! The price was lower then I paid, but it was a "fair" price around. I don't mind loosing the money (not a big deal for me), but I DO WANT my swords to go to someone that will take care of them and appreciate it as much as I did. SO I AM VERY HAPPY with the turn out all around. But out of curiosity, has anyone run into this fellow before or had a similar experience? Cheers

Hi Folks, it's been a while since I've visited the site. Summer and a bunch of kids tends to do that! Anyway, I'm looking for Louis Skebo. Actually both myself and a friend in the Toronto club sent him a few emails and he hasn't replied which has us somewhat worried. Has anyone been in touch with him in the last week or so? Cheers, Deron

Thanks, that would make sense. Deron

Very nice. Question: It has three holes, so would that be it was mounted 3 times and/or shorten three times. I once heard that if it was getting remounted (new tsuka) they would re-drill a new hole rather than use an existing hole even if they weren't shortening it. Deron

The water looks ok to me, but I know what you mean by "cartoonish", I think that's what first struck me as "strange". I'd like to see this artists other work... or maybe it's an earlier form of "anime" :-)

This one seems pretty likely to me. Deron

You know, I think there are two "ole po's" out there. I recently purchased something from Zen-Art and their email/paypal address is the same as ole po. Deron

A ken eh? Hmmm didn't think of that! I'll go over the "God List", pretty cool. I didn't see that website before. A good link to save. No it sold last night. Wasn't sure what it was, just thought it was "different" in a cool way. Cheers, Deron

Hi, I saw this on eBay last week and thought it was pretty cool but strange. The image/theme doesn't match anything that I would consider Japanese. And the sword looks more like a European broadsword. What does everyone think? Deron

Hello everyone. I've had these F/K for some time now and I'm finally starting to catalog a few items I have collected over the last few years. Anyway, does anyone recognize this school? Region? Thanks, Deron

Hi Rich, Nahh... not me. It's not signed. I looked at that webpage (above), very good BTW, and saw the Umetada tsuba and thought it was close to what I had and wondered if it was possible that it was an Umetada tsuba? Cheers, Deron

A very interesting page: Would the following tsuba be from Umetada school? Or Ko-Kinai Echizen? Deron

That is so OBVIOUS a fake. You can see the acid etch among other things. Good example of what to look for in a fake however, great educational piece in that regards. Offer him $1.50 Deron

I find mine are tighter in the winter. Living in Canada we have the heat on and it dry the air out, which dry up the wood and makes it shrink. Usually loosens up in the spring when the heat is off and the windows are open. Deron

Hi Folks, I'm building a box for one of of my tanto similar to the one pictured here. What I need is the help of someone with good penmanship skills that can accurately draw/print something in Japanese/kanji for me on the bottom lid. A short poem? maybe the smiths name? Not sure yet. I can send the lid before I attach it to the box. So it would be a flat piece of wood. Shouldn't have any problems with customs. I'm in Canada. Of course I would compensate you for your time and trouble, have no idea what that would be? Let me know... won't need it done for a few months yet. Cheers, Deron

Thanks Sencho. The carving detail is extremely well done. The picture is about twice as large as the actual tsuba. My eye sight is pretty bad and I can't see the tiny details (getting old I guess), so I use a desk magnifier with a ring light. I'm always amazed at how this was done... I can't see the details, so I find it hard to imagine someone carving them. I know this was hand carved since the cuts at so crisp (using the magnifier). Out of curiosity I may buy a microscope to view the inner recesses of tsuba. Thanks! Deron

Thanks Ludolf and Curran, when I bought this I wasn't paying too close attention to the signature. I've learnt that most times it's gimei anyway and I just buy based on the skill and whether I like it or not. It's just later, after buying, that I start researching the signature/artist. I read similar, but what you indicated Ludolf, filled in a few blanks. Thanks Curran for the samples. Love the Fuchi/kahira. Cheers, Deron

Hmmm. can't get the image to appear.... I'll upload again.

Hi, i was wondering if anyone had any opinions on this tsuba signed "Miboku". I don't know too much about him, but I suspect this may be gimei. BUT the quality is very good so it just may be correct. It's a small wak tsuba, the detail in the beard is outstanding. Thanks, Deron

I took a closer look. The patina seems kind of funny to me. I like red copper tsuba, so I have a couple myself. I've never seen a patina like this before. It almost looks brushed on. But the detail looks ok... I thought the punch holes didn't look "crisp" so it's hard to say unless it's in hand. Mind you, as you said a repo tsuba from Fred Lohman or other will cost you about $100-$125, so taking a chance on this one with a max in that range... won't turn out badly. Just my worthless 2 cents taken from my limited experience. Deron

It's nice to see Emura is starting to sell at higher prices and may be taken more seriously as a true nihonto... I say these things because I have one :D . But regardless of how much it is eventually valued at, I won't be able to sell it and stay married. My wife bought it for our anniversary . Whenever I sell a sword, she is nervous that I may have sold the emura. :lol: Thanks, deron

Thanks Rich, I have a kozuka that looks more like the first signature than the others. It's crisp and has one minor variation. So it could be authentic. Cheers, Deron

Hi, would anyone have a sample signature for Sugiura Joi of the Nara School? Thanks, Deron

Hi, the auction hasn't ended yet, so it's hard to say what the final price will be. Could go for around $100-150... but I'm usually wrong on these things :-) Deron

Hi Barry, Thanks. I was wondering because I have one in brass, and I seem to see them popping up all over the place. I thought maybe the characters were a prayer or something and the cicada had some meaning. I think I remember reading about a "catalog" of sorts were craftsmen would "research" different designs and use it as a template. (trying to put it nicely... they copied the design). Maybe that's why there are so many similar kozuka of this type. BTW... I didn't get a chance to take a good look at your daisho at the time, but from what I could see I thought they were very beautiful! Thanks for sharing. Cheers, Deron