Mark

Brian I came across a set of Elephant menuki, they are the first i have seen. I listed them for sale on eBay, check them out http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :MESELX:IT any comments, good or bad welcome

re: movie clip....... i think they are trying to show that he cut a slash through the side on the draw and ended with the sword at the back.

the pictures in the eBay auction show additional ware'. The shinogi line appears to be rouned off so maybe it was "cleaned" or polished by an amatuer. the seller seems to be up front showing the poor condition.

has the temper been treated with acid? it has a strange look as it nears the hamachi, it is not a natural change in the temper, must be due to something the polisher did, but looks strange

if it were a Rai blade, or Hosho school etc it may be somewhat common....... but even so would reduce the value. As you say it may be Bizen then the only reason to forgive it is if it were definatly a Kamakura blade and priced with the flaw considered

En-po may have started as late as december 1673 (death) so 1673 before that would be Kanbun 13......... remember too that news took longer to travel to distant parts (not the case here )

there was one for sale at the SF show. i forget the exact price but i think it was $1100-1200

Barry see you there. I also invite NMB members to stop by may table so we can meet each other..

I agree with Grey. It is worth more than $50-300 but not thousands of $ (in my opinion)

nakago looks very distresed, maybe not welded on but could be saiha. If so it is still a very nice koshirae

Playing the devil's advocate a bit, but why would you sell a prized sword to someone who needs a paper to tell them it is a good sword? I know of many collectors in Japan that are extremely careful/picky about who they sell to and will not sell an important blade to someone not "ready" for it....Again, maybe that is a best case scenario; many people seem more concerned with the financial end of things than what is actually best for the preservation of these blades.... Chris, i agree that is the best way to do it....... but if i do not wake up tommorow i do not have that oportunity. I was thinking that if my wife has to sell them it help

Ed interesting sword! Will you have it athe the MAX or Chantilly??? would be great to see.

it seems Chris is saying that it is a benefit to "know for yourself waht quality is" so you do not have to rely on the opinion or papers of anyone else. I agree that would be the optimum situation. But from a different perspective - we (individual collectors) may have a comfort level knowing what is good quality, but we only live (and care for a sword) so long, eventually someone who may not know much about swords, will need to pass them along to another collector. At that time "papers" or the opinions of the market (or those who drive it) will mean a great deal.

the mei is weakly cut, that seems to point to gimei, the signature should be cut with more strangth and confidence

can you post a picture of the other side?

the tsuba is not iron, it is shakudo so non-ferous it will not rust. Shakudo can get ugly green build up but maybe the way it was stored/used saved it. I thought it strange that the tsuba had not been "dinged" scratched, dented, bent etc but you never know

the blade construction is clearly not Japanese. there are many websites that have pictures of this type of copy.. see the heading above "fake swords" check the pictures of grain/hada

a sword is made of steel and should look like it. In books it refers to the steel having different colors (blue black etc) but these are very subtle. The sword should look like a clean piece of steel, the edge will have a misty or milky area where it is tempered, the area between the temper and the shinogi (or ridge) line will have a muted or "flat" appearance and above the shinogi it is usually polished shinny like a miror. So a blade may look like it has different colors or textures depening on photographed but should not look like it was blued like a gun

the painted numbers are "assembly numbers" used when a sword was assembeled at a "factory" to keep all the parts together

length and temper seem wrong, looks more like a Mino blade

I think Al is doing the show but it is no longer the FTK show, i have a flyer for the show and it is called TAMPA Japanese SWORD SHOW. It is just that the FTK has nothing to do with it so their show is ended

it is difficult to try and kantei from pictures. The shape of the blade, length (it appears ubu), and condition of the nakago suggest sue-koto maybe 1550-1580. I can't make anything from the inscription so no help there. I have seen Bizen Sukesada blades that had differing tempers, the file marks may be right for that group, the nakago shape is a bit different but close......

I guess it depends on the cost. I am not sure i am comfortable getting in the middle of someones deal, that being said his description seems to be fair. I am not sure that unless it has papers that saying Nambukcho is right, but it certainly looks Koto so mabye 1300's maybe 1400's. As the seller mentions it is tired from polishes. So if you are looking for an entry level blade, and the price is comenserate to condition then it looks fine. It clearly is a genuine antique Japanese sword blade.

i am not a fittings expert, but to me it looks real but late and low quality

WWII army sword with blade made by Emura. there is a lot of info on him on the web.