Shikomizue from Showa22

[rematron]

Hello people. I am a newbie to this forum and to Nihonto as far as being able to distinguish worthwhile purchase. I’m interested in this because of it’s history but it’s hard to tell if it’s worth it. I have admired many swords but I have never bought any. I have read many negative things about this seller on this forum. Basically I’m wondering what a good price for this is. It’s at $830.00 US now.  364056390092. Thank you so much for this forum. 

 

-Jeremy

[Brian]

Cane swords usually (very high percentage) contain low grade blades. Whilst it's possible to find a fair blade, buy the quality of the sword, not the story.

[ChrisW]

Brian is very correct. Buy the sword, not the story. Perhaps browse swords for sale here or at any of the dealers listed above? Or start with books. (that is usually the recommended route: less expensive, more can be learned).

[rematron]

Thank you gentlemen. I passed on it. It ended up selling for $1600.00 which I wasn’t ready to drop without more experience. Probably best just to keep this hobby as investigatory for a lot longer.

 

I think for me the thing I would enjoy most would be to hold a sword in my hand that I own that was forged 400 to 500 years ago. It wouldn’t need to be perfectly polished or completely free of flaws as long as I knew it was old. However, I realize that attitude could change the longer I pursue this interest.

I do see swords sold by ‘katana-boutique’ (another store that I’ve researched on this forum) and a lot of them are papered by NBTHK. I am wondering if those have any chance of being faked by that store or prior to the store obtaining them. They also give an approximation of a sword’s age which I wish I knew I could trust. I think I read that the owner of that store is trusted by people on this forum. Maybe someday I’ll get lucky with that shop.
 

I have looked at swords available here and I know this is an expensive hobby but the ones that I see here are very fine specimens and priced as such which isn’t exactly what I’m interested in at this moment. If I were to drop that much on a sword I’d probably just take another trip back to Japan to at least add my own personal experience and story to the purchase. 

 

Thank you again gentlemen. I appreciate you and look forward to more reading of the extensive conversations and research already available here. This forum is the best thing I’ve found so far. 

 

“Buy the sword, not the story” is great advice for stuff on eBay. 

[Mark S.]

1 hour ago, rematron said:

 
I appreciate you and look forward to more reading of the extensive conversations and research already available here. This forum is the best thing I’ve found so far. 

 

Welcome… and glad you found us FIRST   I mean no disrespect when I say this, but based on the questions you are asking, please read and study here (and other ways already recommended) until you can answer many of those questions on your own.  Before you spend your hard earned $$$, you really want to have a good feel for who you are comfortable buying from, what you want/like and why.  Everyone here is more than willing to help with the details, but we always feel bad when someone is disappointed with a purchase.  Hope you stay and study with us!

[rematron]

Thank you Mark. I don’t hear any disrespect from you and I readily admit that I don’t really know what I’m doing. I only know more than I did two weeks ago when I started going down the rabbit hole of “maybe I actually want to buy a sword after 40 years of secretly wanting one”.  I’m on here to be educated and to learn so that if and when I decide to make the leap, I will have somewhat of a better knowledge of what I’m doing. In that way I will make an educated choice and have even more appreciation of my purchase.

 

Aside from my own desire to own a sword, I additionally want to learn about them in general because my interest does not stop at ownership. I would like to have an educated appreciation of swords and fixtures that I will never entertain actually owning. I feel like this will be a long affair. 
 

-Jeremy

[ChrisW]

The best advice for eBay is to bear in mind that it is a den of sharks and you are just as likely to be deceived as you are to find an honest piece there. There are good sellers there, but they ask market prices for their items. You're unlikely to find a good piece at a bargain price unless you're willing to accept some condition issues.

If you're feeling ready to buy your first blade, browse the sales here and/or check out the many listed reputable sellers at the top under "Nihonto Info -> Commercial Links," that will give you access to a decently-sized list of dealers whom are known to be honest and will even work with you on price a lot of the time.

[rematron]

Thank you Chris. 

[Ken-Hawaii]

Jeremy, the best use of your money is an investment in quality books to study.

[jesse]

Jeremy, One type of sword that I collect are the Zatoichi (sword cane) kind.  I have a couple but the nicest one is a Kinmichi from the early 1600's that has a reversed curve.

I have been learning from the people on the NMB since 2016, and this is a great place to learn from individuals who have been at this a lot longer than I have.

 

Warm Regards,

Jesse

 

[rematron]

Thank you Ken and Jesse. Jesse that is a very interesting piece with the reverse curve! Thanks for sharing! 

[ChrisW]

Lovely piece!

Can we get some closeups of the hada?

[Seth]

On 11/30/2022 at 5:19 PM, ChrisW said:

Lovely piece!

Can we get some closeups of the hada?

 

@jesse I second this and would love to see more! Maybe start a new thread?

[jesse]

I will post more pictures in a different thread.

 

Jesse

 

[jesse]

I have started a new thread under the General Nihonto Related Discussion.

[Volker62]

agree with  Ken

[rematron]

36 minutes ago, Volker62 said:

agree with  Ken

Indeed.  Old thread and that's what I've done for the most part.  Although I did buy a $500 koto 'polish project' in koshirae form Eric M. just to get my buyer's itch scratched and though I still do want a shikomizue, I'm pretty sure the one above wasn't the one for me and I'm glad I didn't continue bidding on it.  However, they seem to be rare and that one did look to be decent quality and I've not seen any since but it's only been six weeks.  Seems longer! lol.  But I'm patient.  I've got quite a nice collection of books at this point and am learning more and more every day from this forum and those books.  Long live NMB!

[ROKUJURO]

Jeremy,

this is the "for sale or trade" section.

If you are still on the hunt for a SHIKOMI-ZUE, why not put an ad in the "would like to buy" section?

[rematron]

6 minutes ago, ROKUJURO said:

Jeremy,

this is the "for sale or trade" section.

If you are still on the hunt for a SHIKOMI-ZUE, why not put an ad in the "would like to buy" section?

Hi Jean.  Thank you for the suggestion.  I definitely will post in the "would like to buy" when the time is right.  This original post was my first post back when I wasn't familiar with the forum and I was asking about an eBay seller and item (in what I know now is the completely wrong place to do that).  Today I responded to a suggestion made by Volker earlier today, thus reinvigorating this old thread.  Please @Brianclose this thread to further comment if you wish.  The only good thing that came out of it was @jesse posting his sword which he has since moved to another thread.

 

Cheers!

[rematron]

Thanks for moving this to the right place @Brian or whoever!