Opportunity to buy a batch of swords

[Jon]

I have the opportunity to buy a small consignment of Nihonto. But I’m not sure how much is a reasonable amount to pay for each blade. This is the first blade:

Description: A Katana in Tachi in Koshirae Sugata:  Shinogi-Zukuri Iori-mune with shallow tori-zoriNagasa:. 66.0 cmMotohaba: 2.8cm Sakihaba: 1.9cm Kasane: 7mmHada: details obscured by light abrasionHamon: gunome midareKissaki: chu-kissaki with ko-maru boshi with short kaeriNakago:  Suriage, three mekugi ana, single character of the original mei “Oshu” remains.

 

 

 

[Jon]

This is the second blade:

[Jon]

Third blade

[francois2605]

I think those 3 swords are not worth buying. 

 

I don't know your budget but if I were you, I would ask myself: would you rather own 3 average swords or a good one ?

[vajo]

it depends on the price 

[Scogg]

I'd recommend posting in the "wanted to buy" section and detail what you want and hope to learn from your next sword purchase. I bet people on this board would be happy to help, and some have incredible collections and/or recommendations about sellers

Those three swords look alright to me, as a fellow beginner, but like has been mentioned - I think you could find something even better

I currently have two out-of-polish nihonto's and I also collect some fittings. I still dream of having a papered Nihonto in full polish. I fear if you spend money on swords like this, you will be in a similar situation

I enjoy collecting so much, that collecting gets in the way of my collecting 

[Jon]

Fourth blade:

 

[Jon]

As for price , I was not thinking of more than £150 per sword.

[Geraint]

Dear Jonathan.

 

A tempting dilemma!  A lot of collectors will use certain rules to guide their pursuit, quite a few will recount how their initial collecting was haphazard and they were buying anything they came across and could afford. Sooner or later quite a few people decide that what they really want is good swords in good polish, preferably papered.  However not everyone works this way and there is certainly no rule that you should.  'Rules' will be cited that say that nothing Shinto without a full mei and ubu should be considered, never buy mumei wakizashi and so forth.  End of the day, it's up to you what you collect and what you do with your cash.

 

So.  If you buy these they are all going to need some work and you won't want to skimp on that and ruin the sword.  This is going to involve some work and quite a bit of cash.  Done well you will end up with some very nice looking swords which you will have the satisfaction of having rescued.  You may break even in terms of value or you might not.  You might have a nasty shock during polish that wipes out the value of the sword altogether. If you are up for it then have at it!  

 

What you are considering is no money and I'd be surprised if you get them for that but hey, things happen!  If you do get them then there are some things to learn from handling them, a lot of people will say you can't learn anything from these but if you have some fellow collectors to show them to you will certainly pick up a thing or two.  One of the rules that I do agree with is that you pay to learn, books of course but you need swords in hand to make sense of what you read.  If you can't get to meetings and share with other collectors then that makes life difficult.  (That last one has a mei and looks interesting.)

 

Sorry, random thoughts that many will disagree with.  If you ever get down to the far West look me up.

 

All the best.

[Alex A]

Il buy the last one off you for £160

[Brian]

Probably 300 to 500 each there, even if you are going to end up with project blades that never go anywhere. There is still a strong market for "entry level" stuff that we all say don't buy, but we all bought initially.
Buy them cheap, eventually trade all 4 to someone for one nicer katana.

[robinalexander]

Ok... now that others have (more courage now ), I will also throw my hat in the ring....

 

IMO...for a beginner it wouldn't be unusual to pay US $1300 for the Lot.

[vajo]

I give € 2000 for the lot of 4 swords.

[robinalexander]

Ohh Chris, I'm soooo  cheap.

[raaay]

Johnathan , are these swords not all in a UK Auction  this week, If so ? you will be very lucky to get them at the prices you are talking about , but you never know maybe be a luck bid or two , good luck 

[Stephen]

Going to play devil's advocate.

 

We constantly have someone with little money coming to want to buy a quote real samurai sword.

They're not looking for hidden treasures they just want a piece of History, the lore of Bushido.

 

If you were to sell each one for a small profit and not try to beat them out of the money who wins you and the new guy.

 

Meanwhile you get to study each sword and learn from its construction.

 

Thoughts from Left Field.

Batter up!

[Jon]

Cheers guys, for myself in not looking for perfection, I’m looking for something I can study the basics on and then get restored…study some more…if I break even after costs of polishing I would be happy….i already have one wreck of a sword I’ve sent of to the polisher ( after I got it a nice Shirasaya made)…so for me collect study…rescue study a bit more and be happy.

 

[Infinite_Wisdumb]

Some crude "Meirasure" on the third one, wow

[Stephen]

  On 6/23/2023 at 6:42 PM, Infinite_Wisdumb said:

Some crude "Meirasure" on the third one, wow

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Looks like everything above the kanji has been removed it's not the same steel age at the bottom.

Interesting nothing has been removed on other, so they shaved it to fit it to already made suka???

[dimitri]

I hope you will manage to have the lot because on the last auctions that I followed in Europe, the entry-level sabers just like the tsubas went to terrifying prices. I hope you will have the chance to have them at the prices you have set for yourself. Good luck.

[Brian]

Dimitri,
You are obviously cutting and pasting from a translation app?
When you paste, highlight your text and click that little symbol to the top right... a T with a small x below it?
That removes any copied formatting from the post you are copying from. Pastes as plain text.
Same for the guys pasting any text that is carrying over any text attributes like highlighting etc. Highlight your text, click that "remove format" icon.
Just a tip.

[dimitri]

SORRY Brian and all other members,  a short sentences I can write without too much trouble in English but if too long, I put 3 hours to write the time to find my words.
Sorry for the inconvenience. 

[kissakai]

Isn't it easier with google translate?

If you say it has been translated we can make some allowances

 

[Brian]

No worries at all Dimitri. We don't mind at all.
I just wanted to get rid of that formatting that put your reply in a scrolling box from the copy/paste 

[Stephen]

When one copy and paste there's an option post as plain text.

Or something to that effect I wish everybody would because half the time that people who do it and don't do plain text I'll get his black on black I can't read the words.

I have to have dark theme because the light theme blurs the words together

[George KN]

Haha, no way, these blades are from the auction in the UK I bought my first to Katana from! I was wondering what happened to the Wakizashi and Katana that didn't sell - have you bought them Jon? 

 

I'm still waiting for my two to arrive (had them shipped since I didn't live close enough), but I felt genuinely sad that a few didn't find a new home (the auction said they were all from one collector who bought most of them in the 1950s)...

 

It was so strange too, as one or two of them went for £1000+, but others didn't have a single bid. 

[Jon]

Yes I was so upset, I was all ready to bid, and got called away for work..then Found out the swords I wanted had no bids…I’ve not been able to negotiate a sale, it looks like the vendor decided to not sell them…disappointed.

 

[Scogg]

  On 6/28/2023 at 2:45 PM, Jon said:

Yes I was so upset, I was all ready to bid, and got called away for work..then Found out the swords I wanted had no bids…I’ve not been able to negotiate a sale, it looks like the vendor decided to not sell them…disappointed.

 

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That's a bummer, sorry you missed out on these. Despite my previous comment, I was crossing my fingers that you would get these at a good price. It would have been great to see them disassembled with better photos

Best of luck,

-Sam

[George KN]

  On 6/28/2023 at 2:45 PM, Jon said:

Yes I was so upset, I was all ready to bid, and got called away for work..then Found out the swords I wanted had no bids…I’ve not been able to negotiate a sale, it looks like the vendor decided to not sell them…disappointed.

 

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Ah I'm sorry to hear that. If it makes you feel better the auction fee was like an extra 28% on top of the asking price, and I think the items had a reserve, so it wasn't as cheap as it looked...

[francois2605]

  On 6/28/2023 at 2:45 PM, Jon said:

Yes I was so upset, I was all ready to bid, and got called away for work..then Found out the swords I wanted had no bids…I’ve not been able to negotiate a sale, it looks like the vendor decided to not sell them…disappointed.

 

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Next time, maybe try automatic bidding if possible, you would have won the auction when away from keyboard.