Is this a sword made by Ichihara Nagamitsu or his helpers?

[blademan]

Hello,

 

I am new to this forum and to collecting these swords. Please excuse me if I do not know the correct vocabulary.

 

Can anyone tell me if this sword was made by Ichihara Nagamitsu or one of his helpers?

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Kalvin

[Bruno]

Yes

[blademan]

Thanks again for any help here. I was luckly enough to find this sword at a garage sale the other day just steps from my house.

 

I'm not sure I was clear enough with my original question. I have heard that swords with this maker's name could have been made by the smith himself or could have been made by his assistant and put his name on the sword. Can anyone help me determine if this sword was made by the smith or by his assistants who signed his name? If so, specificly how can you tell with this particular sword?

 

I was luckly enough to find this sword at a garage sale the other day just steps from my house.

 

Thanks again for your help,

Kalvin

[Grey Doffin]

Kalvin,

I think Bruno was answering your question; it was made by Nagamitsu or one of his helpers.

It is not uncommon in Nihonto history for a student to sign his master's name to a sword. In some cases the work of the 2 are close enough that it can't be determined which smith did the work; in other cases the works differ and if the blade were papered the paper would make note of this.

In the case of the WWII era Nagamitsu, there are so many blades with this signature that it is certain they couldn't all have been made by the same man; assistants must have made and signed some. In most cases, however, the work isn't exceptional and there is no way to judge who may have done the work.

It seems to me (put target on back) that the prison guard story that goes along with Nagamitsu swords has unrealistically inflated their value; they aren't very special. You did well to find one at a garage sale; you can sell it and buy something nice.

Grey

[BRUNROX]

Hi Kalvin, here is a link to Oshigata of WWII era swordsmiths, very informative. Regards, Mario P.

 

http://home.earthlink.net/~ttstein/index.htm

[blademan]

Thanks again for everyones help. As I say, not to knowledgeable in this topic and was hoping it would be easy to determine if Naamitsu himself made this sword. But is sounds like that is more difficult to do.

 

Bruno did answer my original question and I appreciate it. I realized I may not be asking the right question.

 

Any ideas as to a value of a Sword like this?

 

Thanks,

Kalvin

[Hermes]

It is hard for me to say how much on a Emura blade, the prices can go high these days, here is one that just sold on Ebay last month, hope this helps.

 

http://cgi.ebay.ph/Japanese-WW-II-Army- ... 0288550303

[Mark]

where are you located? maybe one of us are nearby and can look at it and give you an idea of the quality and that may help decide

[cabowen]

  Hermes said:

It is hard for me to say how much on a Emura blade, the prices can go high these days, here is one that just sold on Ebay last month, hope this helps.

 

http://cgi.ebay.ph/Japanese-WW-II-Army- ... 0288550303

 

It is not an Emura blade. Nor was Ichihara Nagamitsu a prison smith. Emura and Nagamitsu are two different smiths....I thought that old myth had been put to bed a long time ago....