Entertaining Crap!

[hxv]

Hi guys,

 

This is a load of crap, but with a new twist and entertaining as hell, hehehe...  Chinese fake, but they seem to have learned not to use the dremel tool.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Seeking-Descendants-Japanese-WWII-Officer-Sword-Scabbard-US-Marine-Corps/262146439043?_trksid=p2046732.c100040.m2060&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140107095009%26meid%3Dcd58b559ed074ddd8140fd7473fdf86c%26pid%3D100040%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D131654096534

 

Hoanh

[SwordGuyJoe]

One of the best mei on this kind of crap I have seen.  All kidding aside look at the awesome hada in the nakago.  Must have been a pretty talented smith 

[Jean]

I dig the attached story

[Brian]

Think the seller is unaware. But obviously there has been a ton of comments coming in to say otherwise.

Shame really.

But yes..that is a very well done mei for a fake.

[Kai-Gunto]

And the number on the habaki.

[Shamsy]

Not sure if the story is genuine or supposed to drum up interested parties. I certainly hope the former.

[Caleb Mok]

If i may chime in...a few years ago the options for this type of blade...pattern-welded WITHOUT a hardened edge was actually common enough to...well, at least get it from Cheness and/or its distributors.  I'm pretty sure it didn't sell well otherwise 1) it'd still be in stock everywhere 2) i'd see lots of raves reviews and 3)i'd actually want one myself.   In terms of quality China-to is concerned (again, apples and oranges.  Apples are NOT oranges...but there are both great and terrible oranges and apples) i'm pretty sure Swordbuyersguide.com was and still is the place to go.  Hanwei continues to try to acquire brands as they did, which included Kaneie...which for a short-lived time(?) almost as short-lived as the Soshu, produced some great works...and then Hanwei acquired them and those great works are no more, and Hanwei and SBG and EVERYONE probably continues to struggle with the same issues that everyone faces in that market... Sorry, i digress. My point is, IMHO from my limited following the china-to market, if you wanted to trace the "lineage" of this artifact, not difficult to do; it's is NOT a Marquis Yi or a Pre-whatever period  hi-quality Kaneie that has both pattern welding AND differentially hardened edge which are much, much more rare and difficult to acquire, than the much more common and economically successful mono-steel diff hardened with real hamon, and, for a very short while, pattern-welded no-hamon no-hard-edge.  The way the copper is stamped too is a dead giveaway that it is mass-produced.

 

SO NOW THAT WE ALL ALREADY OBVIOUSLY KNOW IT'S CHINA-TO WHAT IS YOUR POINT CALEB?

 

Just wanted to say two things:

 

1) Thank goodness it's still extremely difficult to import fakes INTO Japan and then export them.  My aunt who ran a small clothing business here in HK said that among the many things we have to deal with in order for her business to survive competition with ourselves i.e. the mainland Chinese...is the fact that we'd make a whole bunch of clothes, ship them to South Korea, hire a *GENUINE* Korean guy to sell them at a legit location in Korea and claim that they are ~genuinely made in South Korea~ and therefore costs a lot more--implying better-than-China quality (which, if you think about it, is a stupid idea in its own right)--and make a whole bunch of profits from--you guessed it--Mainland Chinese tourists.  The fakers have infiltrated the US too, so perhaps we can tell our friends new to collecting, who may be shopping on Ebay: "Just because an item does NOT come out of China, doesn't mean it's genuine...better yet, make sure the item is from Japan *WITH* THE DOROKUSHO ***AND*** THE LISTING SAYS IT'LL TAKE WEEKS to get the sword cleared with the police."  Better yet, just tell them "It took Caleb 6 years, $10000+ USD on non-papered, unpolished swords and a lot of regret to finally learn that he should have saved it for ONE SINGLE JUYO (or two) for his one lifetime and a lot of books instead"

 

2) IMHO it is not a "good" fake if you consider how ridiculously easy it is to reveal a fake and its implication on profit.  Theoretically the fakers ~can~ fake tamahagane and make a high-quality sword out of that AND give it a polish that shows the hada/hamon...but wouldn't that instantly skyrocket the price?  Even the ~$2000 USD Marquis Yi does NOT have a full polish...i think the full-polish Kaneie are $3000 USD but because it is mono-steel jihada i.e. jihada caused by alloy banding/thermal cycling of a monosteel rather than folding, its aesthetic appeal is IMHO less than bottom-tier Shinshinto/typical Showa-to with clear jihada...and some poor guy spent ALL that time polishing it without acids.  I mean, if i were faking a sword, i may as well sell it as a legit repro: i'm sure i'd get more money than trying to sell it as some shady rip-off on Ebay.  The sword here is CHEAP to manufacture (despite ALL that time spent on the signature LOL): Just stack a whole bunch of 1060/1095/(and 1080 too?) weld them together, shape them into a sword pretty much it......***AND IT REALLY SHOWS!!!!!!***  So even *IF* it is a genuine Nihonto, why would i want to buy that?  And if it is something more, wouldn't it be more expensive anyway?  It doesn't make sense, it doesn't make sense, it doesn't make sense...  But whereas i might (?) be able to deliver my pitch to some...guy, on how faking a bunch of tsuba/tosogu ~might~ somehow result in a big wad of ca$h, it's still pretty safe (?) to presume it will continue to be pretty hard to fake genuine, polished, non-fire destroyed Nihonto?

 

Please just save money for a Juyo instead.

 

Caleb

DEEEAD GIVEAWAY! DEEEAD GIVEAWAY! (Oh if there is a god then may God bless Schmoyoho...)

[drdata]

Just wow: I think now a joke. I mean, the Illuminati? 

 

From recent update:

 

 

"Considering all information available to me, and based upon numerous points of triangulation, including personal observations and experiences, and personal histories pertaining to numerous individuals, going back over decades, and in fact, likely going back to the early Edo period in Japan, my opinion is that the authenticity of this blade may be a relatively superficial aspect of the mystery revolving around it.

I believer the copper repair at the hilt of the sword was not the original repair commissioned by the Marine who brought the sword back from WWII, I believe this second repair may have been completed within the decade, most likely in an East Asian country, and if I had to guess specifically where, I would guess Indonesia or possibly Thailand.  110818 in DMY date format is August 11th, 2018, which corresponds to the date of the New Moon in 2018.  I believe the number stamp on the copper repair on the sword hilt is in fact the signature ... of the Illuminati. 

My assessment is largely speculative and circumstantial, however, I suspect this may be the very first katana ever made by Echigo no kami Kanesada II, which may explain the Damascus style technique.  

For lack of a better term, I believe there is an Illuminati death curse on this blade, and the only way to remove this curse would be to return the blade to it's rightful heir.  

I believe there is also a means of determining who the rightful heir may be in that this person would likely be in possession of a katana hilt guard, likely forged in Japan in the 1970's - 1980's (prior to the second copper repair) that is fashioned to precisely match the exact dimensions of the copper repair at the location where the hilt guard would be located. "

[Brian]

Started out funny...now it's just irritating. Is he trying to get listed in the "weird listings" section of eBay or just playing the fool.

I am tempted to contact him and tell him he is a nutcase, delusional, or just plain stupid. But that would probably get me an eBay warning. Idiot isn't even going to get his $101 for this, so wasting his time.

Not even sure where he thinks the "copper repair" is. Does he think the habaki is a blade repair?

Guy needs to get a grip, stop trying to sell fake Chinese junk made yesterday, and get a life.

Someone want to point him here?

[hxv]

Guys,

 

This guy is no nut case or innocent-but-incompetent fool.  He is an entertaining scam artist. That's all.  

 

Hoanh