Two Swords - Good, or no?

[Brett]

Hey,

 

Fujisanblack is offering a sword that has piqued my interest, and one that I am wodering if it is Gimei or not.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/KOTO-WAKIZASHI-orig ... dZViewItem

 

This one I really like. Is it worth it, and what prices do you expect?

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Signed-SUE-KOTO-WAK ... dZViewItem

 

And what are the thoughts on this? Gimei, or no?

 

Thanks,

-Brett

[Bazza]

  Brett said:

Hey,

 

Fujisanblack is offering a sword that has piqued my interest, and one that I am wodering if it is Gimei or not.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/KOTO-WAKIZASHI-orig ... dZViewItem

 

This one I really like. Is it worth it, and what prices do you expect?

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Signed-SUE-KOTO-WAK ... dZViewItem

 

And what are the thoughts on this? Gimei, or no?

 

Thanks,

-Brett

 

Well, personally neither of them inspire me, but they seem "real" enough. I guess you pays your money and takes your chances, Brett!! Learning is not always about buying books, or listening to other collectors' opinions, but about buying swords and being burnt. Took me 10 years before I began to know what it was about. Some advice I gave a beginning collector recently was "All collecting Japanese swords will cost you is grief and money!!!" The first sword has a MOST interesting menuki of a figure that looks like a DATTANJIN - a Mongolian according to the web, but I have seen such figures also referred to as South Sea Islanders. It is about the third or fourth such figure I have seen.

 

The second sword is interestingly signed tachimei. Hmmmmm. And the -HIRO character is AFAIK (As Far As I Know) the modern revised form rather than the archaic form of the Edo period. And rather crudely done. Gimei?? Probably, whatever that means for a sword of this sort.

 

Prices?? Dunno. I'll leave that to "the Players". Both certainly need a polish and they may not be worth it. THAT requires an "in hand" inspection. Polish - another bug bear of colelctors...

 

Best regards,

Barry Thomas.

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Brett,

While it is possible to buy a true Nihonto on ebay and not pay way too much, and it's even possible to buy one and pay way too little, it is highly unlikely that either will happen if the seller is someone who sells Japanese swords regularly on ebay. The bargains tend to be from sellers who don't understand what they have and list their swords with a $300. buy it now. If the seller knows what he has and the auction runs the whole 7 days the final value is usually at least full retail, if not way too high. Buyers with more money than knowledge tend to bid recklessly.

Better deals will be had from some of the dealers with websites and some of us who don't have sites, and from dealers at sword shows. Ask around, attend shows, do some homework (books, books, books), and then you're more likely to end up with something you'll be proud to own.

What I'm getting at: while either of these 2 swords may be worth owning, something of equal or higher value likely can be bought for less elsewhere.

Grey

[Brian]

Absolutely Grey.

Brett, I don't want to go down the road of commenting on prices of live auctions. FWIW, the dealer is genuine and knows his swords, and they are both real and ok. As for gimei...no-one can confidently state that, but a simple enquiry to the seller might yield an opinion. Personally, I purchase any online sword without papers as gimei, and if it turns out shoshin then a bonus.

I wonder what is expected from posts asking if an eBay item is a good deal or not. If it is..then someone else is going to buy it, and if not, then it won't sell. We can advise if something is a fake, but for all the real swords out there, we can't really tell you what to buy or not. That is what education and personal tastes are for.

 

Brian

[Brett]

Cheers mate,

 

I probably wouldn't have bought one anyway, just seeing your opinions. I really need a thing where I can see swords without information, make statements that I can gather and have them corrected by someone that does know.

 

Nowhere like that?

 

And, what does 'FWIW' mean? I tend to avoid those kind of things, so I'm a little rusty...

 

Thanks,

-Brett

[Brian]

Brett,

No huge problem, but you can see how it could affect current auctions. If you are planning on bidding then it is wise to ask, but don't expect many too positive comments as low to mid-end stuff tends to be all fairly generic.

Fwiw means "for what its worth"

 

Brian