Amoskeag Auction: Mid-19th Century Katana restored by Kenji Mishina with NBTHK. Selling on Saturday 11/23

[Tim at Amoskeag]

Hey everyone! My name is Tim, Marketing Coordinator over here at Amoskeag Auction. We normally specialize in consigning and bringing to auction more antique/modern firearms, edge weapons, militaria, etc but from time to time we have some nice Japanese swords come through and we have the really great piece that I’m hoping to get at least a few more eyes on before the Auction this weekend. 

Here's the Lot in Question

It’s genuinely a beautiful sword,(if anyone’s in the area this weekend, and would want to swing by, it looks even better in person) dated 1857, restored by Kenji Mishina with its NBTHK hozon distinction certificate. A high end piece but we’re hoping it finds a really good home. Though I, personally, am I’m not the writer for this description, if anyone has any clarifying questions, feel free and I can pass them along to our writer!

Thank you so much for your time!

-Tim

[ChrisW]

Yikes. That's all I've got to say on it.

[Ian B3HR2UH]

Thanks for posting it Tim . My friends above may or may not be right in their assessments . Bonhams recently had some pretty big estimates too  Good luck with the sale

[lonely panet]

Hey if you got the money and you like it. Anything is possible at auction.

 

Just means a very very very slow reale time frame 

[Brian]

Guys, be respectful. If you think the start price is high, it's an auction and that will decide if it sells or not.
I like the fact that auctioneers will post a heads up here. Thanks for that Tim, and good luck. Lovely sword.

[2devnul]

@Tim at Amoskeag thank you for posting.

 

With all due respect, why the price? 25k$ IMHO is max/tops for this sword, even overpriced if I can be honest. What is so special about this sword? 

 

Anyway, if you will be able to sell it for price like that, then let me know. I have few swords I would like to exchange (sell and buy something new). My asking price is 3k$ for example, so if you can sell it for 10k$ then ...

 

[Brian]

You guys seem to forget that in many/most cases the seller sets his reserve and the auctioneers have to stick to that. In my experience, if it doesn't sell, then it's up to the seller if they want to start dropping their reserve.
 

[2devnul]

8 minutes ago, Brian said:

You guys seem to forget that in many/most cases the seller sets his reserve and the auctioneers have to stick to that. In my experience, if it doesn't sell, then it's up to the seller if they want to start dropping their reserve.
 

 

Still, don't you think that 25k$ (starting bid!) for such blade is way to much? IMHO biding should start from 2,5k  

 

[Brian]

12 minutes ago, 2devnul said:

 

Still, don't you think that 25k$ (starting bid!) for such blade is way to much? IMHO biding should start from 2,5k  

 

You can't be serious. You have any idea what Mishina sensei charges for a polish? Then add the papers. Did you miss the mukansa level koshirae? Hiroshi Miyajima is literally mukansa for habaki since 1998 and his work is usually on National Treasures. I'm not going to guess a price, but I bet you wouldn't come much under the reserve if you had this all done.

[2devnul]

Well, I see nothing special based on the pictures... nothing that could justify the price. "Ikkansai Masazane of Morioka" also doesn't ring a bell. 

 

[PNSSHOGUN]

If you can't see anything special you should probably spend some more time looking at good swords. The quality is not in question at all.

 

[Lewis B]

I see a lot of Kizu and Ware (along Mune and behind the Yokote). Maybe explains why it only has Hozon papers. The solid gold habaki is nice though and probably worth around $3K+ in scrap value alone. Good luck to the seller and lets see where the market goes.

[2devnul]

1 hour ago, PNSSHOGUN said:

The quality is not in question at all.

Really?

 

51 minutes ago, Lewis B said:

I see a lot of Kizu and Ware (along Mune and behind the Yokote).

Exactly.

 

Are we rating sword or Koshirae here? 

 

Mumei, with attribution to smith without special reputation, blade seems (at least via pictures) seen better days, no matter the skill of polisher. 

I agree on Koshirae, it is nice. But again, in general, nothing special. Yet another NBTHK papered Katana in renovated Koshirae. Is it worth 10k$, 25k$?, 50k$? It is worth as much as someone is willing to pay. I just think that it is overpriced, definitely not EXCEPTIONAL that's all. 

 

PS. https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/49912-for-sale-gendaito-nagamitsu/#comment-526152

https://www.samurais....jp/sword/23120.html

Price ~5k$

[Jussi Ekholm]

The sword in question seems to be signed 於東都麻布邸盛岡住斎藤正実作 / 安政四丁巳年十二月日 (unfortunately the pictures are tiny).

 

This is an early signature of the smith Masanaka (正中), who seems to have started using Masanaka in early 1860's. However I am clueless about these quite modern swords but I would feel the smith is quite unknown. He seems to be a student of Hosokawa Masayoshi who is considered as a good smith.

[Robert S]

Sold for $36K... out of my price range :-)

[2devnul]

One 'lucky' owner of EXCEPTIONAL (definitely for the price) sword 

 

With that budget I could afford something like this 

https://www.aoijapan...ubetsu-hozon-tosogu/

Price: ~35,5k USD

[lonely panet]

im still dumbfounded as to why "this" dealer is the point of measurment to other sales. 

 

far better,  more honest  dealers in Japanese to use as a ruler then aoi

[2devnul]

It is not that I praise AOI. My point was that for 36k$ you can have a really 'exceptional' blade. I understand @Brian point about Koshirae and Togishi's fame. Still, with all these dedicated auctions I have seen I have a feeling, that items offered there are way overpriced. 

 

PS. Recent auction (gallery type, looked very professional!) top 'f*ck up' I saw was selling modern Komonjo blades as Showa-Nihonto 

 

[nulldevice]

This was the only sword at this auction with a few other knives/bayonets and over 200 antique firearms. I've always wondered how that affects prices because your item is unique compared to every other item. 

It's easy to be picky about which German luger pistol you want when there are 12 of them in the auction, but when there in only 1 sword, all it takes is 2 people as they say...