Mark

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.

could yours be Kanemichi?

shape of the blade suggests sue-koto. if it is just a bare blade you do not want to get too much invested as there are plenty of waks that are mounted and papered available on the market

looks like a genuine Japanese sword. the Yoshimichi signature is very suspect, i would say gimei. hard to say what a value is without actually seeing the sword, probably $500-1000 I like the kabuto better, is it available for sale?

i think i have seen papers from an NBTHK US shinsa, seems it was in Dallas maybe in the late 70's ?

Guido, I try to be diplomatic, maybe a little too much. If you look at the descriptions and ask questions it should be clear. George Welch is near 90 now so is much older than me so my parents taught me to be respectfull of my elders. I think the majority (or maybe all) of his swords were verified or attributed by himself, i do not think he puts much value in "papers" -- so that makes it difficult for me to buy swords at that level as i obviosly do not have the his experiance and confidence. Some are probably very nice swords but hard to pay the price without having a very adavced level of knowledge or the benefit of a paper from an organization i respect.

I know the owner, a few other members may know him as well. I think he is located near Dayton Ohio maybe 100 miles south of me, I see him occasionally at some local shows.

then i do not think the 2 you posted are the maker of this sword. You need to search for some later smiths. I would think Tsuruta-san would have provided some info on the smith/period etc on his "appraisal", does that give you what you need?

there are many smiths who signed Hisatsugu. Do you think yours is a kamakura Ko-Aoe blade (maker on the right)? If you think it to be muramachi then you need to look at other makers. Can you post some pictures showing the oevrall shape of the blade and the mei?

keep trying, it is the only way to learn. Grey Doffin sells a great set of Kanji flashcards i used to help me translate and learn the kanji. you might ask him about them.

looks like Gassan

looks like Sagami Province retired preist Masamune