ottou812

You can select what regions you will ship to and it will prevent bidders from outside your selected region from bidding. You must select something other than "Will ship worldwide".

What do you think happened on the nakago? Did the steel de-laminate and sword was shorten to fix the probelm? http://daimyouarmor1.web.infoseek.co.jp/K-105/IMG_1624.JPG

I like it. I would buy it. :D

The Echizen Kinai school tsubas have several common themes. The ones being sold being one of the common theme and pattern used. I have a couple of Echizen Kinai tsubas with the other common theme of using hollyhock leaves. http://www.users.on.net/~coxm/9.%20tsuba%20iii.html

熊 from John's image still differs quite a bit from the original poster's mei. The four strokes on the bottom of the kanji is represented by a straight line while the one in John's picture is in a script style.

I don't think the first kanji is right. It's differs by quite a few strokes with 能.

small tools to go with small hands?

Can't tell. Need better pictures or new glasses.

I translated the mei to be: Noshu ju ... Sukegawa Sadamitsu. I would like to know the rest and more information about Sukegawa Sadamitsu. I can't find the smith in Hawley or on JSSUS. I don't think it's Gassan nor Fujiwara.

Hidetoshi?

The mei from this sword looks very different from the oshigata from JSSUS vol 31. p22 for Masakiyo.

1st kanji looks totally wrong.

Did the adage "You break it, you bought it" happen to that unlucky person?

Thanks Grey. The seller added the Yamishiro threw me off a bit.

Kanefusa (23rd generation) forged medium to high-grade showatp and gendaito according to John Slough's book.

Found only a few posts and only goes back to 2008. Maybe the older posts were on the old messages board before the move to here. I'm more interested in the translation than the actual sword itself.

The seller states "SAGAMI NO KAMI YOSHIMICHI YAMASHIRO". The Yoshimichi mei I translated matched Grey Doffin's JSSUS compilation of smiths, 義道 for Yoshimichi. I tried cross-referencing Yoshimichi in 1981 ed. of Hawleys and couldn't find a match. Can anyone translate the complete mei? http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewIt ... =146217078 It's not my auction. Maybe this post should have been in the translation assistance thread.

Christie's use "inscribed" for items without papers, without attestation, or certainty that it could be genuine. "signed" for items with papers, certainty that it is genuine. "attributed" for items mumei, with papers or attestation but without certainty that it is genuine. Even the Masamune in Compton's auction has only an attribution "to Masamune". Even Compton suspected it was a mumei Sa even with the attribution. Caveat emptor

I think your math is a little off.

I guess the thread got a little sidetracked. Anyways, the Kotetsu sold in Christie's Compton collection stated: INSCRIBED NAGASONE OKISATO NYUDO KOTETSU Later: Tameshigiri kin-zogan, dated Kanbun 1, attestation by Yamano Kaemon Another Kotetsu from the 2004 Christie's auction.

And information from the internet is to believed, Kotetsu has made only 31 swords with his true mei. :?

It's very easy to tell someone to search the web for the information we seek. Do you truly comprehend the vastness of information available on the internet? The information found on the web must be highly scrutinized for it contain much misleading and incorrect information. Sorting through what's correct and what's not is a never-ending process called learning. Even information from reputable sources can be wrong. Maybe Christie's should have pulled the Kotetsu auction if it had known that it was a gimei to begin with. Maybe it did know it was a gimei and gave an estimation of $6-8000 for that lot. There are no databases of prices for the various swordsmiths available at my fingertips that I can reference. Even if there were, the prices would be a collection from auctions and online sales. Figuring out Nihonto prices is not as easy as opening up a greensheet (weekly wholesale prices for U.S. currency) for swords. Until there is something like that for this hobby, we all rely on the knowledgable people, websites, and various auction catalogs to figure out the pricing for our hobby. And even then, one should buy what one likes and not for the name or the value.

By inference, the one sold in the Compton collection was also a gimei. Whoever bought it back then should have asked for their money back. What would a genuine ubu Kotetsu go for? Please enlighten me and others. I'm here to learn if you're willing to share such information.

The Kotetsu sold in the Christie's Compton Collection auction in 1992 sold for $7700usd. What the seller is asking for his Kotetsu seems reasonable and don't sound like it would be a gimei.