Need Info On Newly Purchased Sword

[GrimesSU]

I only have the pictures the seller provided.

 

 

It is in WWII mounts. Seller says no markings on tang.

 

Old polish and the hamon looks pretty good.

 

 

Any other info?

 

 

 

 

[Alex A]

Picture quality not good enough to make a decision (for me)

 

Nakago shot/bare blade?. that's a must (for me)

 

Dimensions?

 

Sellers description?

 

In the dark here Mike, don't buy in the dark.

 

Best.

[IJASWORDS]

Hi GrimesSU, totally agree with Alex. but GUNTO fittings look pretty good. That's a good start. More pics please. Neil.

[GrimesSU]

Seller didn't list a picture of the tang.

 

 

Listing said WWII mounts.

 

He had mentioned other things like 25 1/4" sari. Hamon is Gunome Maddare & is Nioi Deki made with Togari Present. Boshi is Ko Maru. Blade has a Dense Itame Hada.

 

 

He has a few things misspelled and by "25 1/4" sari", he means cutting edge, but did some research before buying and it looked good.

[Geraint]

Dear Mike.

 

I hope this one works out for you.  Interesting to see one rope edged seppa with an otherwise standard set of mounts, I wonder why?  At the least you have got a nice set of koshirae with a decent blade.  If the seller knows what he is talking about then I would have expected a picture of the nakago, on the other hand he might not be very knowledgeable, in which case your research is the only thing that will assure you that the blade is older.

 

 One seller in the UK has a listing which says, "This is a family blade with clear family name down the tang, on the other side has the makers mark with world war period stamp.  Family and makers name are completely intact, a lot of these name were damaged or missing when they shortened them for use in WW2.  This is a much older blade most probably 18th century."  A certain amount of confusion here.  What he is selling is quite a nice Showato, signed and dated.  No blame attached, he is a militaria dealer with a limited experience of Japanese swords, why would I expect him to know it all?  At least he gives adequate photos of the sword including the nakago.

 

I'm sure we all look forward to decent pictures of the blade when it arrives and nothing quite beats that moment when you open the parcel.

 

All the best.

[GrimesSU]

I hope so too. It was an impulse buy after a small amount of research just to check things. The seller has a lot of positive feedback, none bad, and seems to deal in antiques.

 

 

I did ask if he has a picture of the nakago, so hopefully he gets back to me before it ships.

[ROKUJURO]

The out of focus pictures do not allow a final judgement, but I think it will prove to be a standard WWII blade, oil-hardened and with no HADA. The HAMON is not really GUNOME MIDARE but of the often seen irregular TOGARI type from SEKI.

The overall condition seems to be quite good, so it might be interesting for a militaria collector, but not for NIHONTO collectors.

[Alex A]

Oil hardened, I was sat on the fence thinking along the same lines.

[GrimesSU]

Seller got back to me with pictures of the nakago.

I hope this isn't a wartime oil tempered blade.

[Alex A]

Pictures are bad, but nakago does not look too "old" to me, ww2 with some build up of rust would suit.

[GrimesSU]

That's a shame to hear.

 

The hamon looked correct for a traditional made blade, but I only know a bit to at least not buy fakes. Not enough to fully tell the difference between a traditional made blade, and an oil tempered wartime blade.

 

 

The asked the seller for a refund, to which he agreed.

[Alex A]

Plenty of swords out there Mike, bit of a learning curve, can be tricky buying online looking at photos, you need to be 100% sure of what you buy.

[GrimesSU]

Yeah, I only have one nihonto.

 

The blade is in poor shape, but I got it at a good price and the nakago has has 6 holes, one of which is filled.

 

 

I was hoping to get a nicer nihonto with a hamon in gunto mounts.

[GrimesSU]

Still waiting from the refund from the seller, but I got an email from him today.

 

I don't think he has done a refund before because he didn't realize the funds need to be in his bank account, not his paypal, so it has been pending.

He then sent me a nasty email saying that he got an overdraft fee because of it, and that he will redo the refund process for my "buyers remorse" and, as quoted from him, "do me a favor NEVER BUY FROM ME AGAIN".



Just overall a very rude email that he messed up the refund and that it is my fault. He seems to forget that his item description was misleading into thinking I was buying a traditional made blade.

[Stephen]

I would like to know the wording, as you have not stated where he said old, maybe a bit more studying before next sword, all the pix show showato to me. Refunds are a PITA, i feel more the seller unless HE did lie his butt off.

[GrimesSU]

I would like to know the wording, as you have not stated where he said old, maybe a bit more studying before next sword, all the pix show showato to me. Refunds are a PITA, i feel more the seller unless HE did lie his butt off.

 

I'm using old in terms of a pre-1940 blade, not something 100+. He said in quotes, "blade is unsigned but possibly made before 1940".

 

Then he said "Hamon is Gunome Maddare&is Nioi Deki made withTogari Present.Boshi is Ko Maru.Blade has a Dense Itame Hada,"

 

 

Those are terms associated with a traditional made blade.

 

 

I said his last email was uncalled for and rude, and he replied back "it is hand forged not machine rolled bar steel.you do not know what you are talking about.you just thought I was stupid and you were getting a blade that was much older for a small price,when you found out it was only what I stated it was you had BUYER'S REMORSE".

 

 

This has just turned into a cluster with him calling me a liar. I only returned it because it is not even a traditional made blade, the age didn't matter to me.

 

He said the refund will take another week since he had to redo it, but I'm calling ebay/paypal tomorrow to get this refund sorted out.