Expert knowledge and experience

[reinhard]

"There will always be a steady flow of Tadayoshi, Ko-Mihara, Bungo Takeda, Shinto Waks, Uda, etc. These aren't going anywhere, they constitute the majority of the items exchanged. The pressure concentrates at the top of the field, this is normal and healthy."

 

This is where ignorance and misunderstanding of nihon-to starts.

A masterpiece of shodai Tadayoshi of Hizen, a masterpiece of Ko-Mihara Masaie, a wakizashi-masterpiece of Nanki Shigekuni can equal and even surpass a blade by Ko-Bizen Tomonari in quality and in even in market price.

What matters is the quality of the individual blade and its condition.

Those who can't tell the difference might better focus on used cars as a field of investing money.

 

BTW Whining about the fact, that there are no Leonardos or Caravaggios to find online in Italy for a "reasonable" price is....

 

reinhard

 

 

[nulldevice]

1 hour ago, Natichu said:

I believe you can access it on the Internet Archive, but also here (a bit more user friendly):

 

https://onihonto.com...onto-ca-yuhindo-com/

 

I believe both are lacking many of the photos, but the text is there. 

Thank you so much, I'm already reading some articles and learning so much. 
 

This truly is a treasure trove of information. Thanks as well @GeorgeLuucas, I have both sites bookmarked for lots of future reading. 

[Rivkin]

In every collecting field there are two choices.

You can make it about the objects. Beauty, rarity, historical importance - whatever is more attractive to you.

Or you can make it about you being the elite connoisseur who knows "how to collect" and has a unique (no doubt inherited from deep aristocracy on the mother's side) level of cultural perception unavailable to others.

 

Yes, 99.9% of nihonto is probably of little interest to a serious collector, but one has to arrive to this feeling through experience and exploration. Its a long, beautiful and unfortunately extremely expensive path that should not be undertaken in search of "elitism". Enjoy your level, enjoy your purchases, enjoy your discoveries. Everything else is mostly irrelevant.

 

[Alex A]

What Thomas S said.

 

No other points to make.

 

Rinse Wash repeat.

[Hoshi]

Quote

 

This is where ignorance and misunderstanding of nihon-to starts.

A masterpiece of shodai Tadayoshi of Hizen, a masterpiece of Ko-Mihara Masaie, a wakizashi-masterpiece of Nanki Shigekuni can equal and even surpass a blade by Ko-Bizen Tomonari in quality and in even in market price.

 

 

Oh come on. You know better. 

 

- "on average, men are taller than women"

 

- "Not true! look at this seven feet tall dutch lady!" 

 

- "Surely you didn't know about the mere existence of the seven feet tall dutch lady, how ignorant! your theory is disproven!"

 

...

 

Quote

What matters is the quality of the individual blade and its condition.

 

I find this view overly simplistic, but it is a matter of personal preference.

 

For the market, however, while "demonstration of virtuosity" is the major factor, it is not the only one that matter. The extant by which a field has been shaped by a virtuoso, let's call this "the historical impact of virtuosity" is at least second in importance. This is why school founders are so highly valued. Naturally, age, rarity, provenance, etc, obviously factor in as well. 

 

At the end, quality correlates with attribution. Same with fine arts. You go down one level and you get 'Studio work'.

 

Attribution is the best predictor of quality (+/- condition), unsurprisingly, drunk Kiyomaro aside. 

 

 Anyway, you can cherry-pick the best outliers from the names I cited, but even if you do, these smiths still live in a different world. 

 

% = (TJ+Jubi+Jubun+Kokuho+Gyobutsu)/Juyo

Ko-Mihara Masaie: 37.5%

Nanki Shigekuni: 28.6%

Shodai Hizen Tadayoshi: 12.7%

...

 

Ko-Bizen Tomonari: 257%

 

Quote

...quality and in even in market price.

 

Let's trade 

 

[Tohagi]

I love oeï Mihara Masaïe...

 

Maybe people learn to love what they understand? 

Very hard positions here sometimes. 

 

Best,

Éric