ottou812

The reason why the Fujishiro's went for $208usd was that I was watching TV and forgot to bid. :lol:

I would say get Grey Doffin's kanji card set and be done with it.

I would like some opinions from Tosugu experts on this leather tsuba. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0475674784 I haven't seen too much talk about "leather" tsubas. How far back do these types go as far as history of using leather in tsubas? Or may be I'm mistaken that leather is not really what was intended in that auction? Anyways, that particular tsuba looks interesting and seems to me nicely made.

Compare: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0223525099 with the tsuba on this auction out of Hong Kong (scroll down to the selection of tsubas (Copper Tsuba 2162): http://cgi.ebay.com/Japanese-Clay-Tempe ... 5638875761 The design is identical. Materials used just vary slightly. Comments?

I have that link but 300 is less than 10 percent of all the Japanese crests out there. So it's not a comprehensive resource. As for eps files, the more preferred format for me is svg. For those that can't open eps but can open pdf files, there is a free online resource for coverting eps files to numerous other formats including pdf. I also prefer the freeware Inkscape for vector drawing.

E1 or C3 is my guess.

Any decent nihonto to be found at France's "pawn shops" Jean?

A few respected members here sell on Ebay. It is best to stay away from there without the proper knowledge but sometimes lessons must be learned the hard way.

Just sell a few more dentures or braces, you'll have your mukansa blade.

The original thread got threadjacked.

Happy Festivus to everyone! Hope everyone have enjoyed some of the festivities of Festivus here on NMB, public "airing of grievances" and "feats of strength". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festivus

Mei doesn't quite match Murayama Kanetoshi from Sloughs.

Showa 17 = 1942 Date is February 1942.

Maybe it's an alligator snapping turtle.

The hada doesn't looked etched. I think it looks different because of the particular steel that was used. This particular sword was made in 1979 which was well before attaining mukansa status. There are several Sadayoshi swords out there. I doubt anyone is making a gimei Enomoto Sadayoshi yet.

Here's the scan of Masahide' mei from the book.

I'm going to see if I can scan the wakizashi on my scanner to get some better images. I actually bought the sword because I like the fittings (mostly matching) not because it was a good blade.

I've posted some pictures of the wakizashi and the fittings on another thread. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6498&p=50981#p50981

pictures of the fittings...

pictures continued...

Got this wakizashi recently. I would like learn more information from this mumei sword and find out whether if it's worth getting it professionally polished. I mentioned the habaki had stamped numbers on it in a post in Tosogu. Here are some pictures of the blade and the rest of the fittings that came with the wakizashi. motokasane 5.988mm motohaba 24.45mm

I know that stamped numbers on the habaki means that the sword in question is most likely a fake. The numbers that appear on this particular habaki looks different that the ones on a typical gunto fakes. This habaki was on a wakazashi with matching fittings (tsuba, saya and fk). Perhaps someone put a different habaki on this particular wak. The habaki fit the wak pretty well so it got me thinking. Maybe the wak is a chinese fake. Looking at the blade itself makes me think it's not a chinese fake. I will post pictures of the wak with the koshirae later in the another thread.

As I understand it, tanto is 1 shaku or less. Wakizashi is more than 1 shaku but less than 2. Maybe the habaki was "made to fit" in the shirasaya by the previous owner.

I wouldn't call it a gimei right away. John Slough's book has a mei from 1938. This particular one is Showa 35 which in 1960. John Slough's book doesn't have enough oshigatas for Sadatsugu.

1st Living Natonal Treasure sword. I saw one on Ebay a while back and I believe it sold for $5000usd.