advice on wakizashi?

[El Real]

I found this very nice wakizashi on catawiki.. it doesn't have a certification, in your opinion how much could be a good price to buy it?  do you think it can be a good purchase or is it better to look for something else? the certificate has a definitive sentence, therefore a great value for those who buy and for those who sell?

as you can see I'm not very experienced, I would like to buy my second Japanese blade, since the first turned out to be fake.

[C0D]

That horimono (horrible-mono would be more correct) should be enough to turn that blade down without even checking the mei

[El Real]

you are right!  

[Brian]

Yip....wouldn't take that even at $200.

[PietroParis]

The "Expert's estimate" is € 2,800 - € 3,500, and knowing Catawiki the reserve must be upwards of € 2,000...

[Stephen]

Devil advocate what if the mei is good? would that dragon scratching be able to be polished out if its just on surface?. 

[Brian]

You can see it's relatively deep. No way to polish that out, and if it were shoshin, it would be a ruined shoshin.

[El Real]

I have found several other swords but I don't understand how it works, blades that look worse to me are priced higher than those that look better to me.. i think i’ll start to buy stamps  

do you have any general guidelines to recommend? something to watch out for?

[Kurikata]

Catawiki experts are unknow experts.... Catawiki is the Ebay second league....

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Alessandro,

You ask, do you have any general guidelines to recommend? something to watch out for?

Have you heard the one about the young man with a violin case under his arm looking lost on a sidewalk in NYC?  He stops a lady and asks, "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?"  She answers, "practice."

I recommend study: books, in hand examination of good swords, attending shows, asking questions.  And if you want to buy a good sword for the money, until you are able to answer your own questions buy only from reputable dealers.

Grey

[El Real]

thank you very much Grey, then first of all I will try some good books about it, indeed, if you have any books to recommend, I think you understand what my goal is, to recognize a good nihonto, please let me know.

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Alessandro,

For the beginner, a good introduction to Nihonto can be had from either The Samurai Sword by Yumato or The Japanese Sword by Sato.  Then move into more detail with The Conniosseur's Book of Japanese Swords by Nagayama, Facts and Fundamentals of Japanese Swords by Nakahara, the 6 volumes of Nihonto Koza that have been translated to English by Harry Watson, and the 2 volumes of Nihon Toko Jiten by Fujishiro for a reference that allows you to check signatures against authentic examples (and won't break the bank).  If you get serious about Nihonto you should consider the 59 volumes of the English edition of Token Bijutsu from the NBTHK, in my opinion they are the best information on the subject in English.

After those, there are so many good books I wouldn't run out of suggestions until long after you ran out of money.  My website: japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com, has hundreds of books, with descriptions and pictures, so you can get an idea what they are.

And maybe someone else will have a recommendation.

Cheers,  Grey

[vajo]

That horimono has ruined the blade. If gimei or not - i hope the person who made it feels to pain to look on it.

[Surfson]

The blade is signed Yokoyama Kaga no suke fujiwara Sukenaga, I think.  On the other side it says Bishu Osafune X.   if you Google that name, you might find some examples to compare with.   It is in the style of Yokoyama Bizen, and I can't say it's bad without study.