Nihonto Price Question

[Ilovekatana]

I am curious how much a late nanbokucho soshu masahiro tanto would cost, specifically one papered hozon or the NTHK equivalent. The only example I could find that included a price was this one from 2015 (https://www.aoijapan...umei-soshu-masahiro/). I mostly want a sort of general price range so I know how much to save to purchase one.

[Katsujinken]

Many factors go into pricing something like this (Mumei? Condition? Quality? Overall health? Sayagaki? Koshirae? Level of paper and nuances of the attribution, etc.) , but the price you see on that old page is in the ballpark of where something like this would start. The yen was stronger then so I’d call it $5000 US to be safe. 

 

Tanto often command a premium because there are relatively fewer of them. 

[Ilovekatana]

Thank you for the help. I don't really have a frame of reference for what something like this costs and having some kind of starting point helps.

[Rivkin]

I don't see here papers clearly stating its Nambokucho Masahiro. Maybe they are, maybe they are not. Its (highly) unusual for mumei attributions NBTHK mentioning exact era, especially Meitoku (short one) in Nanbokucho. One can get more general attribution to Nanbokucho though. On the other hand, dealers often write Meitoku to indicate the item is still Nanbokucho.

Default attribution Masahiro is certainly Muromachi generations. Nanbokucho work is actually quite rare.

 

[Katsujinken]

21 minutes ago, Rivkin said:

I don't see here papers clearly stating its Nambokucho Masahiro. Maybe they are, maybe they are not. Its (highly) unusual for mumei attributions NBTHK mentioning exact era, especially Meitoku (short one) in Nanbokucho. One can get more general attribution to Nanbokucho though. On the other hand, dealers often write Meitoku to indicate the item is still Nanbokucho.

Default attribution Masahiro is certainly Muromachi generations. Nanbokucho work is actually quite rare.

 

This is a great point. 

[Jussi Ekholm]

I don't really like the item from Aoi Art, there are some things on it that I am puzzled by a bit.

 

For Nanbokuchō Masahiro you most often will find short & wide wakizashi instead of tantō length blades. I will also recommend budget of 10,000$+ even for the "lower" tier verified mumei items, and these will be also very difficult to find. Signed and dated ones, good luck finding available ones...

 

Here are few references for you.

 

This was 11,500$, very nice item: https://web.archive....0/Soshu_Masahiro.htm

I didn't get the price for this but nice item: https://nihontoantiq...ahiro-sword-fss-857/

Personally didn't like this as much, 1,6M yen: https://www.seiyudo.com/ta-010121.htm

[Jacques]

Bear in mind that there are 7 Soshu Masahiro (6 in Muromachi) and the hozon doesn't specify which one.

[Ilovekatana]

Welp, I'll probably have to save for while to get one. Thank you for the info and extra references.