purschases you regretted?

[Reinier]

hey guys

 

i keep reading newbies will make wrong purchases because of inexperience and because taste/interests evolve.

 

can you guys give some examples from own experience? i'm very curious and perhaps it will help me avoid those same mistakes.

 

thnx,

 

reinier

[Rich T]

My first ever tsuba purchase. US$70 off Ebay (bought from the US, not China). I was a real newby.

 

 

Then, more embarrassingly, after several years of practice, from bad images and taking a risk.

 

 

Rich

[Jean]

Hi Rich,

 

Don't be to hard with yourself, I find these flowers very becoming

 

Reinier,

 

I have done the same as Rich with Tsubas and even worse

 

You cannot imagine all the mistakes I made in Nihonto collecting :

 

- I bought Shinto suriage blades (never do it)

- Gimei blades

 

Both things are to be avoided if you want to resell them in order to upgrade your collection, you will lose money.

 

 

Advices from someone who has lost money in this field.

 

Stay free from e-bay

 

Experience is very expensive, take as much advice as you can before investing on an "object" - especially from NMB members (Rich, Guido, Henry, Nobody ....)

 

Prices can be discussed with the seller (Difficult sometimes in Japon but it is worth a try.

 

When you buy something, buy from a well famed dealer, you are probably going to spend quite a lot of money, but it will (generally) be worth the investment.

[Reinier]

rich t: what are the tell tale signs that these tsuba's ware fake?

[Rich T]

the top one - TOTAL CRAP

 

The one under that, it is cast, and made of copper or brass with a clever fake patina.

 

Rich

[johnb]

My biggest mistake (and there have been many) was at an auction. I thought I'd won a very nice Gendaito. It was at the end of the sale when I excitedly picked up my purchase that I discovered that I had been bidding on the wrong lot number!

[Rich S]

I've found it more commonly that it is the

swords, tsuba, etc that I DIDN'T buy that

haunt me more than the bad ones I did buy.

 

Rich S

[Jean]

Hi Rich,

 

What haunted me is the amazing amount of money wasted on unworthy blades/tsubas which prevented me buying the real big one by lack of ready cash.

[Reinier]

another question about items you sold after a while.

 

did you at average make loss or profit and how much (in percentages)?

[Bungo]

if it's purely for monetary gain............ stock options is the way to go.

 

don't expect to make too much from selling sword related stuffs unless you found them in junk piles , like one member found a metal coaster for 5 bucks.

 

The other way is buy only papered high end stuffs, but then when times to sell, it's hard to find buyers with similar taste that's willing to part with similar pile of $ you parted with originally.

Imagine a pyramid.

Big base at the bottom and the middle( meaning lots of buyers/seller willing to take chances ) and narrow at the top where they are all very knowledgable and extremely picky, not unlike a used car, easier to sell a Honda than an Aston Martin............

 

It all comes down to buy/collect what you like, trade up as you " mature " but don't expect to get rich on a regular basis.

 

milt the ronin

[Deron Douglas]

I've probably lost more then gained. On a good day I'll break even, and that's fine for me. I'm not in it for the money. I find what occurs a lot is, I buy something ... usually a sword... that I've been scrimping for months, drooling over the photos on the dealers site while getting the money together, then finally... it arrives! Then after a number of weeks want to sell it!

 

But yes, eBay is not the place to buy unless you want to take a risk with lots of money. I only buyer from good dealers and they are usually papered to boot!

 

Deron

[pcfarrar]

 

Stay free from e-bay

 

 

Yes stay clear of ebay and leave the bargains for the rest of us

[Deron Douglas]

Yeah... that should have been "clear"...

[pcfarrar]

Ebay is potentially the best place to get a sword if your willing to gamble.

 

My favourite sword a Jiro Taro Naokatsu katana (it passed papers) came off ebay for £500 :D

[Jean]

Peter,

 

I would not advise newbies to go for e-bay.

 

I repeat : Newbies keep shut from Nihonto e-bay!!!!

 

Peter,

 

congratulation for your Naokatsu, a friend of mine got a Naotane for 50 bucks. But how many got burnt???

 

Unfortunately, we see almost everyday in NMB, people asking : Ihave bought this sword for xxxxx$, what do you think of it? Chinese fake!!!!!!

There are a lot of shysters on e-bay, see NMB various posts including the last one from Thailand ..... :x

[Stephen]

my bigest regret at the moment is this...it just came back from polish and i sure could have used that money in my forced retirement. Old blade most likly 1400s, see pix why im so down.

[Brian]

Stephen,

Ouch. Did they ask you if you wanted to continue with the polish once the hagire became apparent?

 

I don't have too many regrets. One hagire so far that the seller gratiously gave me the option of half the money back and keep it, or return for a full refund. I kept it (very cheap) and traded it for a profit to someone who wanted a project piece.

 

Low end stuff here sells like a bomb (no swords here means ppl fight for anything that comes in) and I sell my low end stuff for a small profit, and use that to upgrade to better pieces. Still working my way up to that one really good piece, but will get there. No hurry...take your time and never get the buying frenzy/urge.

 

My bad buys usually stem from not asking for pics I should ask for. I learned early on that even from some of the better known sellers..the part of the sword that hasn't got photos usually has the pitting or damage. Also read the measurements! A good looking sword can easily have a blade thickness of just a few mm from too many polishes. Sometimes just before the shingane starts to show.

 

But overall I have done ok. The trend on eBay is for lower end stuff to fetch disproportionately high prices, whereas the higher stuff goes for low prices.

I agree eBay is not for beginners...and even more advanced collectors should always pay a price that they can afford to lose on.

 

As some can tell you..buying from dealers can just as often be a disappointment, but if you have a good seller, then they will take it back.

 

Regards,

Brian

[pcfarrar]

My worst ever purchase was an out of polish koto o-suriage yamato wakizashi that I got from a top US dealer. It looked very healthy before it was polished, no sign of any problems. After I had it polished it came out with several openings . Pictured is the worse. It's a real shame as apart from the openings its a great blade. But when I sell it I'm going to have to take a large loss...

[Grey Doffin]

Peter,

May I ask who polished it? Seems strange the polisher didn't see it coming and take steps to minimize the damage.

Grey

[Bungo]

 

Stay free from e-bay

 

 

Yes stay clear of ebay and leave the bargains for the rest of us

 

that's right............... stay clear of e-bay

 

milt the ronin

[Jean]

One of my worst experience already mentionned in the NMB was the purchase from a dealerof a Kantei sho NTHK katana (tensho - Kanatsune) which after polished revealed 2 Hagire.

 

I got a full refund from the dealer but lost the polishing fees ...

[pcfarrar]

Peter,

May I ask who polished it? Seems strange the polisher didn't see it coming and take steps to minimize the damage.

Grey

 

Hi Grey,

 

It was polished by John Bolton here in the UK. He said it opened up straight away as soon as he put his first stone to it. I decided to go ahead and get the polish completed. It's not quite as bad as it looks, one side of the blade is pretty much ok, and the picture shows the worse of the other.

 

Peter

[Bungo]

" It was polished by John Bolton "................

 

the dude with the hairs under his nose that someone sent to the UN ?

lol.....don't know he can polish swords too, he should " polish " his social skill, heard he's a kiss up, kick down kind of guy. Certainly not someone you want to have as a boss..............

 

ok, ok, just a joke...............chill.

 

 

milt the ronin

[Bungo]

One of my worst experience already mentionned in the NMB was the purchase from a dealerof a Kantei sho NTHK katana (tensho - Kanatsune) which after polished revealed 2 Hagire.

 

I got a full refund from the dealer but lost the polishing fees ...

 

Jean,

you do realise a few generations away, people will say swords with hagiri can pass shinsa............

 

milt the ronin

[Stephen]

That is a very good point and brings me to ask...when was it brought into play that a sword with a small crack could and will not cut the mustard when it comes to papering, because it would be no good in battle? I can understand that but to say who made the sword and how well it was done how can one judge, one would think that a crack came from to much use right? or was it there all along...??? I cant see that in my mind.....but then i still licking the open sore in my wallet, yes i know crying over spilt milk...ill buckle up in a day or so.

[Jean]

Hi Milt,

 

J

ean,

you do realise a few generations away, people will say swords with hagiri can pass shinsa............

 

It wil be the same probaly with your Shiiremono tsubas :lol:

[Bungo]

Hi Milt,

 

J

ean,

you do realise a few generations away, people will say swords with hagiri can pass shinsa............

 

It wil be the same probaly with your Shiiremono tsubas :lol:

you mean the ones I got from ole Po ?

 

milt the ronin

[Jean]

Of course :lol:

[roninjje]

I would wager that if the sword were a rare big name koto piece, it wouldn't matter much with a hagire or two. Have yous een some of the older national treasures?