Rictus

This is why this forum is amazing. thank you sir.

Based on the reviews I read I kind of gathered the same. I think mr. portland is getting close to retirement anyway. I wish the other gentleman would get back to me but no other contact info I could find on his website besides email.

My first sword purchase was an Edo period nihonto crafted by fujiwara sadahiro. https://nihontoclub.com/smiths/SAD380 what attracted me to the sword aside from the price I got it at was the hamon and signature and the overall condition of the blade and size. I specifically wanted something signed from the Edo period with a beautiful or unique hamon. The blade only came with the shirasaya and no koshirae. only the habaki and mekugi came with it. I did some research and found that a few people would actually make a new koshirae for my sword. I recently purchased a tsuba and menuki and kashira fuchi all from the Edo period in hopes to have this all mounted into koshirae. the two online that came up that offered the services were one in portland and another in florida. I emailed both of these gentleman but have not heard back from either of them. could anyone help me in the right direction for someone who could offer this service to me? I don't imagine this is blasphemy what I'm trying to do or will harm the value of the katana. was hoping it would increase the value but at least I will have a complete piece. thank you.

I was on my phone when I read Vajo’s reply and I thought his profile picture was a Darth Vader helmet. Fitting he would talk about laser swords. 😆

Thanks again Xander, Brian and Bruce. When I mean functional compared to modern katana I was referring to examples like Paul Chen and the Ronin katana's made in todays world. How a Gendaito would perform compared to these. I guess I was hopeful that a Gendaito or even showta would still be considered more durable or "better made" than these modern ones.

this is another WWII sword for sale I am looking at. much more expensive. I guess im safe to assume this is Gendaito and also advertised as so. looks to be in excellent condition and specimen. Is an accurate valuation of this sword to be around 2,000 usd or higher?

You guys are incredible. So happy to have found this forum and will be looking to donate for the help and experience. So I guess that takes me back to my original question of is this blade an actual functional cutter or 100% for show? I guess the main focus of my collection I want to revolve around functionally made Japanese katana. This sounds like it is borderline on functionality and if its subpar in comparison to modern made katana then I think I would have to pass on it and keep looking at other WWII swords. But if you guys think it would still outperform 99% of modern swords being made then I will buy it. I'm not going to be cutting anything with my swords but its still nice to know that the blade was crafted to serve this purpose no solely for show. The seller confirmed its western steel and says it was folded which I guess could still be just a few folds but to hard to tell from the pictures. but he may just be saying that to encourage the sale. so the confusion for me is show and/or function and NCO or officer?

thank you, I decided to include some pictures of the one I'm interested in purchasing. says the signature is Noshu Seki ju Hattori Masahiro saku

Recently I got the itch again. My first purchase was a signed Edo era sword but now I am looking to grow my collection. With the prices I was looking for something a little less "desirable" by collectors and decided to check out some of the WWII craftsmanship. I found a signed with small Seki stamped sword for sale. The seller has confirmed it is Western Steel but that it was folded. The swordsmith seems to be a reputable one from what I could find. The hamon looks a bit suspicious as in a little TOO nice and I'm wondering if that is a result of lamination or could it be possible that it is a true natural hamon? So I guess my question is were these stamped swords made solely for military personnel decoration or were they actually able to be used as weapons? When comparing to other katanas I know they aren't traditionally made but would they still be considered a very well made weapon? Should one be wary of a hamon that looks a little too good on a stamped sword and is there collector value and if so what kind of range would one expect? 600-1200 seems to be what they are going for but I'm a little cautious with no paperwork like my Edo katana and being a complete newbie. thank you in advanced.