Anyone remember the ol days of fun finds

[Stephen]

looking in the books this moring for a Kanji that has me puzzled i came across this, what a day it was back in the good ol days of gun shop and farm auctions. I thougt youd all get a kick out of this. the gun shop sales receipt was in a book i bought years ago...dont know how the swords turnd out but them prices!!

[Brian]

Wow. A year before I was born :D

Doesn't that just make some of you feel old? Lol.

Of course, we should save our receipts nowdays too. In 30 years we will be looking back and saying "Geez..look what I paid for that wakizashi back then!"

No doubt those were the real "good old days"...before many had the collecting bug, and they were really undervalued.

Thanks for that "look back in time" Stephen. Makes me wish I had discovered Nihonto earlier..but also reminds me it is never too late to add new items to the collection.

 

Brian

[Bungo]

Of course, we should save our receipts nowdays too.

Brian

 

receipts are for IRS.............. cash ONLY

 

 

 

name withheld upon request

[Stephen]

im sure you can dig one story of the good ol days of finding a find of al finds. :lol:

[Bungo]

im sure you can dig one story of the good ol days of finding a find of al finds. :lol:

 

on E-bay........... no more than 2 weeks ago.

Sniped ALL 12 of hawk paintings ( early Edo period, Soga school ) cut from the big screen for the price of 1..............

a complete set.

also I was made an honorary Scot for a deal made about two years ago..........but that's another story.

 

 

Milt THE ronin

[DavidF]

Of course, before you get too nostalgic, remember that the dollar in 1970 was worth 5.79 times what it does today.

So, if we convert your receipt to the 2006 dollar, you paid roughly....

 

$217 for the two katana blades.

$869 for the signed "samurai sword" :x

$449 for the "tachi miniature"

 

For a grand total of $1535 !!!!

 

Now, just last year I paid $50 for a wak that just got papered.

If I convert that to 1970's dollars, I would have paid only $9.06. :lol:

 

 

Why didn't you buy the civilized world back in 1970 when it seems so cheap? Because you were being paid in 1970 dollars not 2006 dollars.

You still paid good prices back in 1970 for nihonto, but the prices are not quite as good as you remember. Economics is one the thing that can bring perspective to nostalgia.

 

 

DaveF.

[Stephen]

Thanks for the Eco lession, lets see two rusty blades sold on ebay that may or may not hold good swords, lets say sale for a grand each ...everyone loves the hunt for buried treasure... a Ujifusa lets hope its shoshin sales at a sword show for 5K, being kind should be more but we dont know the conditon or if its gemei....lets say the tachi is a boysday sword...or maybe a copy but this is 1970 long before ebay and the glut of repos...ill stick with the boys day sword...let put it down on ebay at least 900.00$

 

2000

5000

900

total 7900

- 1535

profit 6365.....pricesless.... show me the gun shop!

[Blazeaglory]

Haha I'm thinking the same thing even 5 years back from now! Prices seemed to have blown out of proportion in the last few years. I used to be able to find decent swords for under 1000$ all the time but lately people are wanting big money for crap. I guess it's the ebbs and flows huh?

[John A Stuart]

I used to think our community was fairly small. I am used to seeing the same folk at the various places. I have revised that, as, I see sales, and plenty of them, to people I've never seen in collectors circles or in chat fora. These myriad thousands have created demand which raises prices accordingly. A 1970 dollar has risen 583% to purchase an equivalent value today. This is half what demand has created. We have to become more discriminating and selective (my failing). John

[ROKUJURO]

I bought - and had to sell ! - a lot of nice swords and KODOGU in the seventies. That was the only way to start a small collection back then. Some items are still with me, but I had to make a living as well.

In 2019 I bought a rusted WAKIZASHI here on NMB for little money as I liked the shape. I had it polished and it proved to be a gorgeous SOSHU blade with HITATSURA HAMON. The occasions have decreased in numbers, but sometimes, there are still nice finds possible. 

[dwmc]

In 1970 I owned a 1965 Pontiac 2+2 421 cu.in engine , gasoline was 25 cents per gallon and I still had trouble keeping fuel in it. ( Damn I loved that car )

I realize the value of the dollar is relative to the time period and prices are often really not different in comparison. I think the minimum wage here in the US in 1970 was around $1.50 per hr.  

What I recognize most though, is how few Japanese swords are found in local Pawn shops and Antique stores as there used to be, It seemed like back in those days almost any Pawn shop always had several swords, now the shops rarely have any...

 

Dave M.

[Bruce Pennington]

All of my Type 95 buys were great "finds" in today's market.  I got my copper-handle 95 for what a standard 95 costs today (at the time the price was REALLY high!).

 

My faves are not from dollar values but from what I got:

My first gunto - Dad's Mantetsu

An early Type 95, Nagoya, with black saya, and 4 stamps on the fuchi instead of the normal 3

Another, 1939, Mantetsu in combat say with the "airborne" sarute.

 

One inherited, but the other 2 "normal" sales that turned into pieces that were more interesting than I'd expected.

[Bugyotsuji]

They are showing all the old Columbo series on TV. I love seeing the cars, the fashions, and the dollar prices, reminding me of my college days.

[Peter Bleed]

And what were you doing in 1970, Stephen?

Peter

[Dave R]

My first nihonto was a wakizashi blade in a stripped saya, no tsuka or tsuba, it cost 7 weeks pocket money, £4. 10 shillings.

 

 

[jesup]

My first nihonto was from a friend who needed some cash back in the mid 1980's.  30" ce o-kissaki (tired, basically no hamachi, with some chips) nambokucho o-suriage tachi in WWII mountings for $300.   Still have it; still tired, still in bad polish.  I *think* the chips don't go through the hamon, but it will be very narrow with them removed - it's really hard to see the hamon at all given the polish (suguha I believe).

 

[ribendao]

I remember when I was around 10 I was in an antique store and saw a nice type 95 for sale. At that time I actually knew it was a ww2 Japanese sword somehow, but couldn't afford the $250 on my $10 a week allowance. That was around 2002. Still haven't forgotten about it till this day.  I know it is more recent than most of y'alls' story but still a story of missed opportunity none the less.

[Bugyotsuji]

This reminds me of my first Guntō. There was a totally mad Japanese student at my college on the East Coast, and once I asked him if he would sell me his sword, in a reddish-brown leather scabbard. He told me his grandfather was the famous General Araki. He said “Give me $50 and your corduroy jacket. But remember that you will have to give the sword back when I ask for it.”

He went on to become a well-respected journalist but sadly I have just discovered that he died back in 2005.

[Stephen]

Pete in 1970 I was still in the Marines.

In 2006 when I started this thread I had just finished half triathlon working on a full one.

Today I can't walk the full length of a big box store without having to s*** my pants

I'd just as soon go back to the 70s

Who digs up the past is sure to repeat it.

[DRDave]

My memory has gotten so bad that I have fun finds all the time.

[Surfson]

I was already in my mid 30s when I bought my first sword in the mid 1980s.  It was a nice mounted wakizashi and it cost me $1400 in Japan.  

 

I do recall that NCO swords in good condition were about a hundred bucks while decent signed shinto were around $2,000, a little less than they are now.  The Japanese bubble was inflated, and demand for true samurai blades was high.   There were many Japanese dealers attending the US shows and they bought hundreds of blades to take back to Japan. 

 

So as it turns out, the NCO swords have gone up more than the vintage swords since then.  

[Ken-Hawaii]

The 70s, hmm. I got shot at, had kids, got divorced, remarried, sold my GTO & motorhome because I couldn't afford the fuel. Yup, those were the days.

[Stephen]

70s ain't nutn, remember the 60s?

[Dave R]

"Ethnic" weapons were a bit of an odd collecting area back in the early 70's, and Japanese stuff was considered "Ethnic".... There was in fact a bit of a prejudice against them, and so prices were low. I do remember prices going up tenfold in just one year, and a katana that was priced at £18 would be £180 in just about twelve months. 

Percussion guns were cheap and despised, flintlocks were collectable, British military swords were stuck in the umbrella stand, foreign swords went into a bucket. I paid £10 for a gold koftgari decorated Indian dagger with Ivory grips. 

 I still have the first Kukri I bought for £1.10 shillings from a small junk-antiques shop called "the exchange and mart"...... Hmm, coming over all nostalgic! 

[Mark]

when i started, maybe mid late 80's i was at a big gun show. guy i know had a dead mint Mantetsu with General's tassel (bring back) and a signed Shinto katana. $1000 each.  I bought the Shinto Katana as i was interested in antique blades and Gunto's were not expensive (the mantetsu and tassel retail value was 1k). It is long gone but the Shinto katana is probably worth 1500 now but the Mantetsu maybe 3500-4500

[sbf]

Ah yes, 1970. A couple of observations. First,  a skilled tradesman in those days was bringing home about $100 per week. So $150 was a lot of money for a sword. You could buy a super condition Civil War musket  or Luger for a lot less than that. Second, I find it interesting that a gun shop in Iowa would know the signature on the sword. In those days there were very few people around who knew or cared what the signature said, they were just “Jap swords”. 
 

Steve

[PNSSHOGUN]

On 5/14/2021 at 12:47 AM, Bugyotsuji said:

This reminds me of my first Guntō. There was a totally mad Japanese student at my college on the East Coast, and once I asked him if he would sell me his sword, in a reddish-brown leather scabbard. He told me his grandfather was the famous General Araki. He said “Give me $50 and your corduroy jacket. But remember that you will have to give the sword back when I ask for it.”

He went on to become a well-respected journalist but sadly I have just discovered that he died back in 2005.

Please share some pictures if you still have it!

[Bugyotsuji]

Sadly John I left it at my host family’s house in 1971. 

[Stephen]

Ask Peter Bleed about gun shows in Iowa. Good ratio of swords for sell then. In fact a national treasure was found there right Pete

[jesup]

I still remember a really nice looking blade in polish with good horimono for sale at a gun show in Albany; I was a college student and $800(??) was way too much for my blood.  (I was taking kenjutsu classes).