Brendan campbell

They’re trying to make it look old and period. Old proverb , you can’t polish a turd.

I’ve had the same experience with ,UPS only last week. I had my sword held by UK Borderforce from November 23 and finally got it delivered in July. This was after paying the duty of £188. UPS rang me left me a voice message and also sent me mail chasing duty payments . After I Imailed them telling them I had already paid. This was last week , I have not received a reply. Today , I’m going to pick it up from 😜 the sharpener. 🍻🎉

The 3 Mantetsu Koa-isshin swords I have had , never had a smiths name on the tang.

69, bought my first sword at 19 on my return home from training with the British under 21 judo squad. 1974. 50 years on and off , sadly a lot of my original sword mates have now passed on, but I still have their memories.

Sorry to hear, but if it dose not even leave the country of origin, your stuffed. 🙁

Good luck Alex, fingers all crossed ,keep us informed. 👍

Please educate, what am I misunderstanding in the post office / parcel force not allowing you to send swords via themselves?? Have you not been reading the new remarks from all the major auction houses , or am I misunderstanding their new terms . I do believe some collectors are still using the above to move swords between them selves , I have also heard that suspicious parcels of a certain length , are being x-rayed, is it worth the risk.

Hi Michael s, yes I did , I did read this i think last December, in 7 months you do forget all you have been reading , and speaking to other collectors , as you are trying every avenue to try and get logic over to these persons who are controlling your property, as I previously said .This situation and the movement of swords in the UK , has put me of buying abroad. I had a in the 70s/80s/90s a very fine collection of Koto/Shinto/ Gendaito. I collected with my late father , we had around 30-35 swords in total. When he passed in 1997, I sold all my swords and only started up again in December 2019. This time around I am only buying Gendaito, with good names. Thank you for reminding me ref the gov terms in full, I must after 45+ years rejoin the TO-KEN.

This is a section of my reply, stating their rulings , I hope this is of use to you and possibly the To-Ken . Their reply was 13 pages in total.

Hi Alex, if you go on Borderforce, look up importing a sword , they specify the length over 50 cm and it’s a curved blade. Their rules are , antique, religious, martial arts. The first 3 emails I had from them, asked for the same questions only they reworded it differently. My response was the same , age, maker, date, on the blade, hand made , antique. All translated and proof from 3 independent experts ( Paul Martin, Ray singer, Terry Ingolds ) all stating the same. Their inspection personnel are basically parcel openers, then it falls into a banned weapon, you can’t have it.I asked for a review officer , he had more than 1 brain cell, I then got my blade, not a complete sword. I have now purchased Gunto fittings from Japan , it’s away as we speak . It now has a very sharpe edge and its back in original shape , much more to be done. UPS delivered it from East Midlands airport. You will still have a problem even with a tanto, in their mind it’s a knife.

It needs to be made before 1954, and hand made . If it’s for martial arts , you need proof of your license, Dojo insurance. This covers the Borderforce rules as it’s not an antique. Finally good luck. My 1944 hand made blade , signature translated , no edge, took 8 months to be cleared .

I agree Colin, a lot to risk on photos , even for a ¥1.5 million smith. It seemed towards the end it was between 2 collectors.

Reference my reply, 28thJune to blades in transit to the UK . I finally took delivery of my Takayama Nagamitsu blade on 14/07/2024. It started its journey from the USA last November 2023. I asked to collect it myself from their local depo in the West Midlands, having been told it would be there on the 14/07 i rang them directly, they could not find it. I was told to ring back within the hour. Within the hour a tap on the front door , a great big brown Mercedes van , a very friendly delivery driver placed my very long awaited blade into my hands . YES !!!! 👏👏. After all this time , when I inspected the blade to my surprise.It was totally blunt , more a 24.5 inch club that a beautiful Gendaito. I did the week before buy a complete suit of high end Gunto fittings from Japan. They arrived 2 hours later, 😂😂can you imagine, I’m sliding the blade into the saya , oh my goodness they were a match made in heaven. All the seppa,s tsuba just need the minimal amount of fine tuning, handle again needs fitting, the big bonus, the habaki which was on the wooden blade inside the saya , very small amount of filling. Hopefully in the very near future, it will be back in original condition. The moral , keep chasing the the custom officers, and with the help several good sword friends , bombard them with all the knowledge we have versus the morons who do not have a clue, just following their guides lines and rules. In the end ask for a review officer to take control. It worked . Has this put me off buying from out side the UK !!! Sadly yes it has.

More money than sense.

I’ve been on it tonight UK time . It was ok .

Nihon, your in Singapore. You’re not that far from Japan. Do your homework and search the net . You will find different grades of polishers advertising. When you find one , look for reviews of his work. Obviously it depends on how valuable and hopefully it’s a genuine sword worth spending the money on .

Fingers crossed 🤞

We’ll talk about timing.i think the common problem here is Borderforce. I have had a sword blade with UPS , East Midlands airport since early December. 3 lots of emails , 3 lots of the same reply’s , and thanks to various friends , who have all had challenging projects to resolve with Borderforce .I have had on Tuesday a reply from a review agent confirming I can have my sword , tax to pay £188.00 . I believe also that as Borderforce are obviously a government dept , so are the post office , work it out . I am going into my bank tomorrow to transfer the funds to complete . Hopefully when my sword is in my hands. I will post some pictures . Good luck.

No still not working . It’s very useful.

Some more .

Hi Colin, yes the owner , myself and the polisher sat around on Saturday morning discussing the do,s and dont,s . I’m in total agreement with you , it will be a very challenging task, but you viewed his work on my Sadashige and Kanetomo. He’s polished 2 Moritsugu,s a Ko-Isshin also 1 of my earlier swords he polished was Bizen Masanari. I will try and pop some photos on herefor you to cast your eyes over .

I think , I agree withJohn C. Also having looked at it again the whole tang is not finished to a high enough standard for an exhibition.

Hi Colin, it’s not been stared yet.the chip will polish out , but 1st it’s a fabulous sword ,2nd it’s the best horimono I’ve ever taken the time to really study close at hand, 3rd the tang being double signed by the smith and the ingraver are in their own rights a work of art . When it’s polished to the high standard I know it will turn out , it’s the perfect package. As and when it’s finished I will , with the new owners permission send you some pictures.regards Brendan

I had the pleasure of inspecting this, marvellous sword this morning , I could have purchased it about 3 months ago.!!! another one of life great mistakes. It was all down to photos and not having the sword in my hands. Anybody else , same mistake.