Good deal? Koto Wakizashi for 799$

[Blazeaglory]

Does this appear to be a decent deal? I thought I'd share with the members here if someone thought this was a good deal.

Sword is on the shorter side in length but it's in decent condition for the price.

 

Someone thought enough of it to put a solid silver habaki on it. That's almost the purchase price in itself.

 

Good starter blade imho. Supposedly it has "Daimyo" registration date of 1951 as well.

 

On the other side, it is kinda tired with some pitting in the Hamon and some ware. Also looks like a mei or something was removed from the nakago

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/283833030433

[vajo]

Mei is removed.

 

 

For the price it is a nice koto Waki.

[Blazeaglory]

  On 4/6/2020 at 6:50 PM, vajo said:

Mei is removed.

 

 

For the price it is a nice koto Waki.

Yeah I noticed that as well. I'm wondering if the smith who handled the sword making it Osuriage put the original smiths name there to "preserve" the record? But who knows, that's just an assumption and either way, it would still be considered a gimei correct? I don't know why I even speculate like that lol

 

Anyways, that is another sign that someone actually cared about this Nihonto and polished it properly. Maybe they just never sent it back to shinsa afterwards? I mean the silver hibaki alone costs upwards of 300$ to 600$. Also, at first the blade doesn't look that great but upon closer inspection, it has some nice detail to it.

[vajo]

You are right Dwain. I over read it. 

[Ken-Hawaii]

Agree, but for a different reason. Blade went to shinsa, & was judged as gimei, with the recommendation that the mei be removed, & the blade resubmitted. I've seen that happen several times. That's no guarantee that it will get kanteisho, though.

 

Decent blad for the money.

[Rivkin]

Looks nice for the price. Late Muromachi. Maybe Uda? Hamon looks tired and not very distinctive, which might be the photos.

 

However good luck getting anything in the mail from Japan today. It is non-functional.

 

Kirill R.

[Blazeaglory]

  On 4/6/2020 at 10:03 PM, Rivkin said:

Looks nice for the price. Late Muromachi. Maybe Uda? Hamon looks tired and not very distinctive, which might be the photos.

 

However good luck getting anything in the mail from Japan today. It is non-functional.

 

Kirill R.

 

Mail service in Japan is stopped for now?

 

I can see some similarities in the Uda school and the mei that was removed looked to be a 2 Kanji mei. What gets me tho is the silver habaki and Daimyo registration date (if true). Seems a bit much for a "normal" blade huh?

 

Could it be a really tired Kanesada blade I wonder? Or maybe thats what the removed mei was trying to get passed off as. See there I go again with useless speculation lol

[Blazeaglory]

  On 4/6/2020 at 9:45 PM, Ken-Hawaii said:

Agree, but for a different reason. Blade went to shinsa, & was judged as gimei, with the recommendation that the mei be removed, & the blade resubmitted. I've seen that happen several times. That's no guarantee that it will get kanteisho, though.

 

Decent blad for the money.

 

 

I was thinking that as well. The optimist in me is thinking that maybe the seller was going to resubmit it but now needs the cash. Could be either way. Maybe he or she felt they already put too much $$$ into it? I wonder how old the habaki is, If its new, its not cheap. 

 

Here is the registration. Seller states its 1951. Any other info worth gleaming?

[Rivkin]

  On 4/6/2020 at 10:57 PM, Blazeaglory said:

Mail service in Japan is stopped for now?

 

I can see some similarities in the Uda school and the mei that was removed looked to be a 2 Kanji mei. What gets me tho is the silver habaki and Daimyo registration date (if true). Seems a bit much for a "normal" blade huh?

 

Could it be a really tired Kanesada blade I wonder? Or maybe thats what the removed mei was trying to get passed off as. See there I go again with useless speculation lol

 

The international air mail is stopped officially to most countries, and for the remaining it defacto stopped functioning sharp about 10 days ago. Everything before went through smoothly, everything after gets stuck.

I suspect because this is a severe cut down from a much longer sword, what was there could have been a kinzogan mei or alike to, say, Masamune. So it was removed during the polish even without submitting it, as nonsense to begin with.

 

I like uda for it because of utsuri, nagare close to ha and nie forming long, narrow stripes.

 

P.S. I thought Showa 31 is 1956.

 

Kirill R.

[Alex A]

All I will say is you guys should know better.

[hxv]

Mei removed, still no paper? It’s a giant red flag.

 

Hoanh

[Ken-Hawaii]

Thus the rather low-ball price.

[Blazeaglory]

Exactly. Plus not every Japanese sword owner wants or knows to get paper. Maybe the person ran out of cash and is done with shinsa whereas a new owner could possibly breath new life into the process and maybe get lucky if they submit. Or not. It's still a decent sword with or without paper

 

From what I've seen anyways, papering Nihonto is hit or miss. One year a sword gets declined, the next year it gets accepted. One sword is papered to a certain area or smith but then gets repapered to a different area or smith. So I take papers with a grain of salt.

 

I get what you're saying tho but I'm the kind of person who doesn't mind swords without paper due to the fact that the price is usually way lower. Forgive me if I came across as rude as it wasn't my intention haha

[Ganko]

Better to collect swords than papers.

[Alex A]

Hi Dwain. If your happy with what you can see in the images and think its a great deal, that's all that matters 

[Oshy]

For the price it looks to be a decent starter blade to study and pass on for little to no loss. Could do worse

[Blazeaglory]

Still for sale! Im so tempted to buy it!

 

I just sold one of my Nihonto and have enough but should I pay my bills first? Or buy another sword?

[Alex A]

Dwain, and I mean this with respect, if you need to ask you shouldn't be buying it.

 

A purchase should be made confidently, end of, by ones own educated opinion.

 

Dunno why this is in italics, but looks ok

[Blazeaglory]

  On 4/9/2020 at 11:15 PM, Alex A said:

Dwain, and I mean this with respect, if you need to ask you shouldn't be buying it.

 

A purchase should be made confidently, end of, by ones own educated opinion.

 

Dunno why this is in italics, but looks ok

 

I know, I was being sarcastic and making a funny

 

Im so broke I might not even be able to pay my bills next month!

[Blazeaglory]

I made an offer. Hopefully seller accepted

 

Another thing. It looks like the Bohi isn't original and maybe added during the O-suriage process? Otherwise it looks to be either a very short original bohi/sword to begin with or the sword is ubu(not likely).

 

I say this because the patina/rust on bottom of the bohi is same color as the rest of the Nakago. Plus it doesn't go far down enough to be part of the original smithing unless the sword was short to begin with or the bohi stopped short of the original Nakago.

 

Am I making sense? I'm just making an observation

[Blazeaglory]

Offer declined...

 

Oh well, its probably better I spend my stimulus payment in this country anyways haha

[Mister Gunto]

Pay bills or buy swords? Phsssh...buy swords. Every. Single. Time. 

[Blazeaglory]

Sold☹

[ChrisW]

There will be something better that comes along Dwain!

[Blazeaglory]

  On 5/8/2020 at 5:36 PM, ChrisW said:

There will be something better that comes along Dwain!

Thanks for the cheer up!

 

Side note... I'm super broke and decided to put one of my cherished Wakizashi up for sale. It's an old one and possibly Naoe Shizu and one that is very dear to me. Anyways, I put it up for a high number and within a day I had received several offers that were really close to what i was asking. Long story short, i panicked and pulled the sale...

 

Better to be broke and possibly file bankruptcy? Or sell your favorite Nihonto and regret it for the rest of your life?

[Ken-Hawaii]

Depends on whether your landlord/bank will let you live there without payment, I guess.

[PNSSHOGUN]

When selling swords I always ask myself if I will be able to replace it with something of better value or use that money for a needed purpose. In many ways they are investments and many will come and go for most of us. I would rather have stability in my home & finances rather than a fairly average sword.

[Bugyotsuji]

Kirill, it’s Showa 26, March 31st.

[Tom Darling]

I've never had a  solid silver habaki on hundreds of nihonto, gold yes.  What would a solid silver habaki cost today?  It would seem like a good deal.

 

 

Tom D.

[Tom Darling]

Dwain, to get over, whether i would be able to replace it with something of better value, sell a kokuho, everything becomes much easier, thereafter. Peace.

 

 

Tom D.