Burnt papers

[PietroParis]

This is a Japanese eBay seller who usually sets up auctions for blades with a $10 starting price. Their typical end prices for Hozon-papered blades are in the ballpark of $1000 for wakizashi and $2000 for katana. However, they are now selling a tanto with Kicho certificate and a whopping $6500 price. To make things more intriguing, the certificate is torn and partially burned... Clearly there must be some funny story behind it, can anyone guess what that would be? Is it at least a famous signature?

 

https://www.ebay.fr/itm/Authentic-Japanese-KATANA-SWORD-TANTO-SUKESADA-signed-w-NBTHK-KICHO-PAPER/254795872322

[Shugyosha]

Bishu Osafune Sukesada. It's a long tanto 9 sun and a bit with the look of it. Looks a decent blade and koshirae but I can't see what sets it apart from all of the other Bizen Sukesadas. One of them is a big name and maybe they are gambling that someone will take a punt on it being him is all I can think of.

[Bugyotsuji]

The first photo is carefully posed to hide the rips and burns. But not the second. Hmmm...

 

Since the actual length 9 Sun... (X bun) is burnt, and we cannot see the registration card, then there is no way from the paperwork above alone to judge whether this is even the same blade.

[Jacques D.]

Old papers = no papers, nothing else...

[PietroParis]

44 minutes ago, Bugyotsuji said:

Since the actual length 9 Sun... (X bun) is burnt, and we cannot see the registration card, then there is no way from the paperwork above alone to judge whether this is even the same blade.

 

The registration paper and the bare nakago are in the pictures if you follow the link.

 

35 minutes ago, Jacques D. said:

Old papers = no papers, nothing else...

 

Sure, sure, I was just picturing the scene of someone angry at having been duped who starts to tear and burn the paper, only to check himself and decide to sell the blade...

[Bugyotsuji]

3 hours ago, PietroParis said:

 

The registration paper and the bare nakago are in the pictures if you follow the link.

 

 

Sure, sure, I was just picturing the scene of someone angry at having been duped who starts to tear and burn the paper, only to check himself and decide to sell the blade...

Apologies, Pietro, but eBay is one place I do not visit, even to click on a free link. 

[Ken-Hawaii]

Walk away, slowly. Just enough here to make someone wonder if it's worth taking a chance. It's not.

[Rivkin]

Its a late Muromachi tanto. This signature is sometimes faked, but the execution here does not look terribly wrong. Its also a relatively common signature (less so on tanto), and the blade from what little is shown does seem to be "sort of" consistent with Bizen work from say Tembun. Its a well known, but not particularly great name by itself without a more specific attribution.

So I personally would not doubt the papers too much. Its possible this would not paper today, but again there is nothing too obvious about that I guess.

However the work does not show anything outstanding. The koshirae is nice except kozuka is a throwaway and there is active rust. I would be looking at 1.2-4k for the package, mostly depending on how it looks in hand, are there kizu etc. 

For burnt papers - well, Japan still has one of the highest number of fires in the world. Courtesy of heating one room in a house with moveable heaters of often dubious safety.

 

Kirill R.

[Brian]

The papers were burned deliberately, don't know why but it doesn't really matter anyways. The rest is as per Kirill above.

[Surfson]

I agree with Kirill, and imagine that it would paper if submitted again.  There are nearly 200 makers that signed Bishu osafune Sukesada though, and there doesn't appear to be anything remarkable about this one.  You could probably narrow it down to 25-50 of them based on a estimate of its age.  

 

Is that a reserve price?  I have had and sold a handful of Sukesada blades and think that Kirill's estimate of the range of market value is pretty good as well.  I still have a couple, by the way, and sometimes they can be quite good.  The hada on this one doesn't look particularly inviting though.