Caught my eye...Thoughts?

[Winchester]

Just stumbled across this one...seems in decent shape. Thoughts?

 

Ebay Listing

[Brian]

Nice fittings. Ask them if they guarantee it would get papers if it were submitted for new papers. I suspect it may have been, and failed. Only reason to put it back out there into the eBay market.
In other words, if you buy it...buy the sword not the signature.

[dimitri]

Excuse me @Brian or other members of the forum, it's probably a stupid question that I'm going to ask but hey I'm starting. If there is already a certificate, why ask for another one? And I do not understand the color of the certificates, blue, yellow, it is compared to the note of the experts?

[Franco D]

1 hour ago, dimitri said:

Excuse me @Brian or other members of the forum, it's probably a stupid question that I'm going to ask but hey I'm starting. If there is already a certificate, why ask for another one?

 

see, https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/search/?q= older "green papers"&quick=1

 

"Buy the sword not the papers." Do your homework. 

 

 

[dimitri]

Thank you very much for the links which adds uncertainties personally. I'm going to read them to find out more and have bad luck afterwards.

[Winchester]

Dimitri, Thank you for asking and for the help everyone.

 

I am also a newer collector, reading a lot but it is a journey.

 

As a result, I never heard of the background on these 'green papers' prior to the post and thank you for asking more questions. 

 

 

[DTM72]

@Winchester

For a price of $3250, I would expect the blade to be in a little better condition. There is red rust on the mune (back edge). On the left side of the blade about 2-3 inches froward of the habaki, there looks to be a FUKURE - 脹れ (blister) opening up, and just forward of that, there appears to be a WARE - 割れ (a split or delamination in the layers). The overall polish is a little cloudy and the BOSHI - 帽子 (temper line in the kissaki-tip) is also not clear.

If you were to offer $2500 for it, and had to pay another $2000-2500 for polish, you now have $5000 into it. You may struggle to get that return on investment if you tried to sell down the road. If you were able to get it papered with current papers, you may break even. The fittings on this example are high quality which helps your possible return on investment.

Everything boils down to what you want it for. Are you happy with the fittings and the blade as-is? If so, go for it. In the end, it is your money and you are buying it for yourself, not any of us. If you are asking for opinions, I would say this is a tough one. I would want the blade to be as nice as the fittings, so I would want it polished. That takes time and more money.

As Brian mentioned above, it may have failed a recent shinsa and is being offered with the old, not so trusted papers. Quick story, I bought 3 swords at the Chicago show. There was a shinsa just upstairs and they had openings. I just had to walk them upstairs, fill out the paperwork, pay the fee and within an hour, I had the results. This was a rare occasion to have a shinsa team available at an event in the USA. It is much more common to have them in Japan, and fairly easy to get to if you are say...a dealer in Japan. For a fairly big name shinto smith to come from a Japanese dealer without recent paperwork, should indicate the blade may have not passed recent submission. Recent papers are alot of work for us in the USA to obtain. Either send the blade to Japan, pay shipping and fees to the handler, the shinsa team, the shipping back, etc. Or wait for the once every 5 years for a team to come to the USA. <-- both paths are tough, but not impossible for is in the states. For dealers in Japan, it is almost as easy as I had it at the Chicago show.  

 

Hope all my blabbering helps.

[dimitri]

@DTM72 Very clear, even if I am in Europe, there I completely understood. It all depends on our desire for conservation whether in time or not. Enter the link to explain the subtlety of the certificates then your explanation and feelings, there personally I like this frankness.

[Winchester]

I contacted the seller, borrowing from Brian's post, asking would they guarantee it would get papers if resubmitted.

 

A few days went by and they responded back that the papers with it are authentic. That of course was not my question.

 

I have purchased from this seller before and had a good experience. Think I will let it sit for a while and think about it.