Mark

maybe a type of hitatsura

best to judge it based on waht it is, not what it "might be". If the owner thought it would make Juyo and was going to sell it i wonder why it was not submitted last year, or sold after the shinsa this year. There are plenty of blades that are TH and "might make Juyo".

got 2 more but my spam filter got them.. different links

i recived an email with no subject and when i opened it there was just a link to a website. i did not click on the link, then i saw your post so i deleted the email

i sold a nice one in decent old polish and complete mounts for $2500 a while back, i was offered one in trade at Chicago a few weeks ago for around $2k but passed

Chuck an option, if you are looking for "real" antique tsuba is check out what grey has for sale. They are all nice, reasonably priced. If you check the threads you will see past buyers were more than satisfied. He has plenty under $500 viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7474

if the sword is signed they will say what the mei is (not if it is genuine - just what it says), it will also state the nagasa (lenth of cutting edge), i think that is about all it says about the blade

Curran, It is a 15" hirazukuri blade with sori, so not sure if Nambukcho or early 1400's. The blade has been cleaned with some type of metal cleaner, it has not damaged the blade but made it very shiny so hard to take a decent photo. I will take a couple and post them shortly as you asked

thanks to all! I had thought that but the strange stroke sort or threw me, good to have second opinions

can anyone help with this mei.......... it seems to read (Bi) Shu Osafune ??? Mitsu, my first thought was Norimitsu but there is a clear horizontal stroke at the bottom on the ??kanji that does not make sense for Nori, i thought maybe Tsune but that does not look right either........any suggestions? thansk!

i bought a book from them a couple of weeks ago. emailed an inquire, they sent an email with total price with shipping and said i could use Paypal. I paid, got the book a week later.

not the clearest writing. my guess would have been Sadayuki (or Sadayoshi)

sorry just looked at the title line and the picture. thought you needed the makers name. i will look up the other kanji later today when i have some spare time

maker is Yoshimasa

I have a wakizashi with sayagaki. I can read the mei (blade is signed) Mino Kuni Kanemitsu, the secon part i think is the length so unless it has other info (such as jidai etc.) i do not really need that. The 3rd i think gives a value in gold or gold coins?, the 4th is the date the sayagaki was done, i have a hard time with it but assume it is Showa, the 5th is the person doing the sayagaki, it the style reminds me of Honami Koson but am not sure.......... any help with translation appreciated and if anyone wants to comment ( negative comments are fine) please do so. Thanks!!

the Dawson book does not seem to have as good coverage of Dirks, and there are a lot of different models/styles. I spoke to Jim a while back and if the economy imporves he plans to do a book on Dirks

I had a Kunimori in Navy mounts i sold at the last Chicago show, if anyone was at that show they may have seen it on my table

i think the making of swords was banned after the war (1945) and not allowed until later - maybe early 1950's

not quite sure where to go with this. seems unfair to the seller to make overly negative comments after the auction ended, especially when we clearly expressed our opinions before hand (i commented on the katana mei as did others). To continue this could end up causing potential problem, like interfering with the transaction....... am i way off base?

i would look up the references, but from what i have seen i would expect a Bizen smith from the early 1300's to sign tachi-mei, i think katana mei from that period would be a-typical, like Aoe

Did not look the maker up but it looks shinshinto from blade shape, it may be someone has treated the blade with acid or chemicals to make it look that way

with new final value fees (no store regular auction like Grey has always sold things) if yoi sell an item for $555 (maybe the value of a low end sword) the old fees were $20.40 new fees $49.95 a 141% increase, for sales higher and lower the percenatge changes a bit but still a stiff increase.

one kanji is ichi and one is the kanji for year but it does not look Japanese to me. no idea if the blade is genuine but the inscription is suspect at best

some years back i has a terrible experiance with this dealer, almost made me give up collecting swords. So i do not look at his auctions. Only a personal experiance but i still remember it years later.

The sword is probably ShinShinto, at least the fittings are. If you post a pictures of the tang we can tell you more.