New to Japanese swords on Ebay Auctions

[Ten4bagua]

Greeting all,

 

This is my first post.

 

Happened across this forum while studying up on my recent ebay purchase.

Unfortunatly, like many others I think I may have been dupped into buying a junk blade made in China even though the description on ebay said it was an original 1940's era ww2 Katana..

 

I liked what I read here in the buyers beware section about ebay. (Going to the bookstore after work to study up for my next purchase.) Seeing that pretty much sums up the same thing said across the net that I read AFTER I bought the sword.. :/ ...Or maybe it is a real original ww2 Katana? The bottom line is I just don't know and was wondering if someone could help.

 

Sorry if this topic has been discussed before-as I'm sure it has. These are the pics of the sword.

 

 

 

Any help identifying whether this blade is real or fake would be much appreciated

 

Tim W

[Mark]

sorry, modern chinese fake, check the "fake swords" link above

[Ten4bagua]

Thanks for the tip mate!

 

Sorry I'm pretty ignorant, I'm sure I can learn a lot here!

How can you tell its a fake?

 

 

Edit. I did notice in the fourth and fifth picture down; the "Damascus" looking grain. IDK, not that I'm an expert by any means but just didn't have a good feeling about it.. That was the reason I started questioning and made the decision to look into it a bit further.. Seller hasn't gotten back to me yet but Item hasn't shipped. still may have some time to catch a refund. Seller was apparently posting under false pretense.

 

 

Tim W

[O koumori]

Chinese junk of the non-ship kind.

 

There is an information link on this this messageboard - http://jssus.org/nkp/fake_japanese_swords.html

 

Dan K.

[Wickstrom]

Hey, everyone makes mistakes. Hang in there and you'll start to learn how to separate the fakes from the treasures.

 

Good luck out there, and welcome to the community.

[sencho]

Oh wow... and what a fake this is.... I just though I'd seen the nastiest one 2 minutes ago in this thread....

 

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10951

 

but this is worse! But hey, it is not the end of the world... same words apply to you, Tim.

 

If your chosen hobby is Japanese swords, then you need to hit the books, learn lots from the NMB and also scour the (above) linked Nihonto sales sites, to attune your brain to immediately detect genuine from fake....

 

Don't waste your time with ebay... probably only one in every thousand "Japanese" swords on there is genuine.

 

Within a few months, you will look back at this post a wonder how you could have even thought for one minute that this was anything but a nasty nasty fake...

 

I remember that day quite well...

[Jean]

You will find in the "links", commercial sites with a lot of pictures which will show you what is the real stuf and how it looks like.

 

Never buy a sword from e-bay anyway not before 2/3 years study.

 

First thing to do, which you will never find in a book, is to go to a show and see the real thing. As long as you have not seen the real thing, you will be easily deceived.

[sanjuro]

How can you tell its a fake?

 

The koshirae alone is too gaudy, too fussy and quite frankly, plain ugly. No real Japanese sword would be mounted in such bad, (make that ghastly) taste. Quite apart from studying up on real nihonto, get a feel for the look of a Japanese sword koshirae. Japanese aesthetics are subdued and very elegant. This present example is one of what the Chinese fakers think is appealing to western tastes...... WRONG! Even a Victorian era western peasant would be offended by this koshirae.

Japanese blades have a certain look about them and certain principles to which they are faithfully produced. The best you can do for yourself is become conversant with those principles and standards. When you do, your current query will become inconsequential and you will know what to look for. Its really no more complex than this simple basic principle. :D

[Brian]

Sorry to be blunt, but you ask "How can you tell its a fake?"..and I ask: How could you possibly think it was real?

This one is so far from a real one, it is scary. The most basic of studying should identify this is not real. Grab some books, and make sure you go check out a real sword or 2 in a museum or nearby collector.

 

Brian

[Ten4bagua]

Thanks for your help and advise guys. I feel really fortune to have come across this forum. My understanding as of right now is very very limited.. so I apologize in advance for my ignorance. Bought a book The Arts of the Japanese Sword by BW Robinson. Like as you guys said, study up and in a few months I'll know the real from the junk. BTW just got a refund so now I can use that $$ to buy some good books and really get a feel for this. :-) Thanks again. If I have any questions I'll know where to come:)

 

Best regards,

 

Tim W

[sencho]

BTW just got a refund so now I can use that $$ to buy some good books and really get a feel for this.

 

 

cheers!

[shingen]

Hello Tim, as a fellow newbie I know it is somewhat hard to control your urge to buy a sword but it is a must to study first. But you will enjoy learning about this magnificent hobby, it is well worth it.

 

Keep up the good work, I mean study :D

[Andi B.]

Tim,

as said before:

If you browse ebay for Japanese Swords simply avoid Chinese sellers -> these are nearly 100% fakes.

And the ones left judge with a trained eye!

 

So first try to see some real ones and browse the commercial links on the Nihonto Message Board start page for pictures - simply to get a feeling, how real blades look like.

Then you will be able to distinguish (obvious) fakes from antique Nihonto very fast.

 

To distinguish good real blades from crappy ones is then the next exciting lession.

 

Have fun!

[rkg]

Hi,

 

That piece was painfully fake - I'm glad you were able to get your money back.

 

FWIW, if you're at all serious about this, I'd highly recommend finding a way to look at a number of real swords sooner than later. Reading books on the subject is fine, but you get a lot more

out of it if you have seen some real pieces in hand so you kind of understand what the authors are talking about/what the pictures are actually showing you. There are a couple of

sword shows in the next couple of months (notably the one in Minneapolis in a few weeks). I'd highly recommend going to one of these as soon as you can and just look at a bunch

of swords (preferably with somebody along who can tell you what you are looking at/are supposed to be seeing) - they usually offer a handling etiquette class (go to that if you haven't

handled these before, or get somebody to show you), and look at every piece you can that the vendors bring, attend the lectures, etc. I'd actually recommend not even bringing much

spending money just so you don't buy immediately there - get a card and call the guy later after you've then gone back and studied your books for a while - and even if you miss the piece you had

the hots for, remember that there will pretty much ALWAYS be another one (there are actually a goodly number of Japanese swords - while truly great pieces are few and far between, there's lots of "starter"

pieces out there...).

 

Good Luck,

 

rkg

(Richard George)

 

P.S. ignore Robinson's discussion of tsuba care.. Please...

 

Thanks for your help and advise guys. I feel really fortune to have come across this forum. My understanding as of right now is very very limited.. so I apologize in advance for my ignorance. Bought a book The Arts of the Japanese Sword by BW Robinson. Like as you guys said, study up and in a few months I'll know the real from the junk. BTW just got a refund so now I can use that $$ to buy some good books and really get a feel for this. :-) Thanks again. If I have any questions I'll know where to come:)

 

Best regards,

 

Tim W