Good Sword

[Meijin]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Japanese-sword-Masa ... dZViewItem

 

Check it out !

[Guest Simon Rowson]

It does look very nice but it seems odd that the seller, who is based in Tokyo, hasn't had it papered. :?

Gimei perhaps?

[roninjje]

well check his other out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Japanese-sword-Nori ... dZViewItem

 

let me know your thoughts

[Rich T]

a modern sword (Meiji/Showa) made to look old to me.

 

Rich

[Jean]

Agreed Rich,

 

Look at the nakago rust and at the tsuka same ....

 

[roninjje]

I agree, lookes like a WWII oil temper, and mounts just don't seem right.

[Guest Simon Rowson]

Yup, the second sword is an oil-tempered sambon sugi "Seki" blade from WWII made to look a bit older.

 

Dodgy dealer, methinks

[AndreasU]

Sorry guys,

 

even that I am a beginner with swords I lerned the following:

 

It is impossible to judge a sword only by pictures.

I doubt that you can see by these few pics that it is oil tempered.

The rust on the tang looks normal to me. It is a photo and colours will change drastically using a flash, especially if there is dust (rust) on a surface

The Tsuka same, hey c'mon what do you expect? That there is the original Tsuka left from Edo era?? It is crystal clear that the whole kishirae is new.

Anyway its unimportant because the "sword" is not the koshirai.

 

The sword was shortened minimum twice. This shows that the pre owners were very satisfied with the swords abilitys.

 

 

One of the polishers polished a bit too much the ppart of the habaki. Thats the only thing I would say this looks strange but pleas correct me.

 

Andreas

[Stever]

Just my thoughts on this blade, entirely possible that I have no idea what I'm talking about...

 

Hamon looks oil hardened to me, I have yet to see a traditionally made blade with a habuchi that looks like that. Also, I've seen a couple of sambonsugi showa blades that look very similar to this one. Also seems kind of inactive even though it is pretty. Not sure about the hada, either.

 

Nakago definitely looks strange, appears to have been shortened once, but possibly as a deception(?); the shape seems to have been modified somehow. Rust/patina is weird, too. It's very fine and uniform, but there is no yasurimei visible and it seems quite worn, so I'd expect the rust to be a bit rougher. Looks like a newly-applied patina to me.

 

As I said, just my thoughts. Did this more as an exercise, really. Still, looks like a fairly nice blade. Price seems to have ended where most showato are ending up nowadays on eBay.

[Stever]

Even if that other one isn't showa, here's one that is that's much nicer (to me)...

 

http://cgi.ebay.ca/GENDAITO-Japanese-SAMURAI-SWORD-NIHONTO-WW2-ARMY-GUNTO_W0QQitemZ270112590920QQihZ017QQcategoryZ43338QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

Although some of the lines in the mei seem a bit off. Gimei, perhaps?

[Henry Wilson]

The nakago on the top two intial swords look strange to me.

 

F22 Raptor wrote

It is impossible to judge a sword only by pictures.

 

That is true but I think that the gentlemen above are not trying to spoil your post, just giving their opinions based on what they see.

 

 

The sword was shortened minimum twice. This shows that the pre owners were very satisfied with the swords abilitys.

 

Have you determined this from the pictures?

[Bushido01]

Even if that other one isn't showa, here's one that is that's much nicer (to me)...

 

http://cgi.ebay.ca/GENDAITO-Japanese-SAMURAI-SWORD-NIHONTO-WW2-ARMY-GUNTO_W0QQitemZ270112590920QQihZ017QQcategoryZ43338QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

Although some of the lines in the mei seem a bit off. Gimei, perhaps?

 

This balde seems to have a few chips on the edge and potential small hagiri, be careful.

[Deron Douglas]

well check his other out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Japanese-sword-Nori ... dZViewItem

 

let me know your thoughts

 

And that signature looks aweful... or was that mentioned?

 

I bought my first sword of ebay, but I was REALLY lucky. I got it from a trust worthy fellow in the US who is/was a member of this board. Although I didn't know it at the time. He helped me through the process, it was a lot of money for me, but I "had to have it". To this day it is my best and favourite sword. It's mounted now and looks incredible. But I got lucky!

 

I shutter now at how easily I put down my hard earned money. I don't think I would ever buy a sword from eBay again. I don't have the nerves for it. After talking with people and learning from this board. I've become attuned to the rip-offs and scams.

 

I'll leave all the good deals on eBay for Milt :-)

 

Cheers.

[Jean]

I love this discussion. It is only an opinion, Nihonto is made of exception :

 

- It is impossible to judge a blade from pictures

 

I am wondering why are all these Japanese Nihonto books full of pictures published!,

I am sorry to say that I do not agree having a lot of admiration for Darcy and its pictures kantei.

 

- Nakago : I dislike the bohi ans its shape, it should follow the curve of the sword, the signature has red dust and does not match any oshigata on my Nihonto Zuikan

I dislike the way the bohi ends near the mekugi ana

 

- Sorry for the contradiction, but the signature (I doubt it's genuine) and the nearest mekugi ana show that the sword has been shortened only once

[Stever]

This balde seems to have a few chips on the edge and potential small hagiri, be careful.

 

Thanks, didn't notice the hagire. Which pic did you see that in? I'm not bidding just looking but still, as you say, be careful out there.

 

On that note, I noticed this auction as well:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Truthfull-description-of-SAMURIA-SWORD_W0QQitemZ300104164673QQihZ020QQcategoryZ47347QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Nice to see some honesty for a change.

 

cheers,

[Red Anjin]

Hi,

I'm very new to the board, and swords in general and I had a few questions/observations.

 

Looking at the second sword, does the hamon look too regular or is that sort of uniformity common? In parts it looks almost like the exact same pattern repeated over and over down the length of the blade.

 

I think he said it was shortened twice because the older hole (farther down the tang) is in such a location that the tsuka would have partially covered the groove (sorry, can't remember the proper term right now) that runs down the blade. If this is normally covered than that hole could be the original, if not, then it would have had to be shorteded to it. The second hole would be the second shortening as the groove is now 2/3 the way down the tsuka.

 

Thanks,

Red Anjin

[Stever]

The hamon is sambonsugi, which is supposed to be a repeating pattern as far as I know. Some are more consistent than others; there is much variation. Sometimes the smith seems to be going for perfect repetition, sometimes they take a more artistic approach. All depends on what he wanted to do, methinks.

 

I think he said it was shortened twice because the older hole (farther down the tang) is in such a location that the tsuka would have partially covered the groove (sorry, can't remember the proper term right now) that runs down the blade. If this is normally covered than that hole could be the original, if not, then it would have had to be shorteded to it. The second hole would be the second shortening as the groove is now 2/3 the way down the tsuka.

 

Were this true, that would put the signature onto the blade itself, or under the habaki in the original configuration, so either the signature is fake (likely), or this is a story to try to explain the strange nakago shape (also likely). That's my opinion, anyway.

 

I don't say this much, and I know it doesn't come out in my posts, but if anyone thinks differently I'd love to hear it and why. I'm just learning, too, and it's entirely possible I'm wrong (even probable), so any other opinions are always welcome.

 

cheers

[Bushido01]

 

Thanks, didn't notice the hagire. Which pic did you see that in? I'm not bidding just looking but still, as you say, be careful out there.

 

 

This one, on the right side.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270112590920&indexURL=5&photoDisplayType=2#ebayphotohosting

[Stephen]

how far on the right, i dont see it

[Guest Simon Rowson]

I must be going blind because I don't see it either.

 

Simon

[Bushido01]

Under the lighted area over the last line of the matt. As I said before "potential small hagiri".

[Guest Simon Rowson]

Oh, I see it now.....3 small cracks or wrinkles on the ha.

Yeah, could be a hagire but difficult to tell from the photo.

 

Simon

[Bushido01]

Yes, and that's exactly why I said Potential small hagiri.

[Guest Simon Rowson]

I know......I was agreeing with you.

[Stephen]

if it is a crack that small id would come out in polish. looks more of a chip to me.

[Brian]

Too late once it arrives to discover if it is or isn't a hagire.

I would certainly ask a seller if it looked like a crack or not,　and determine what kind of post sales service you can expect if it turns out to be one. Always pays to be cautious.

 

Brian

[Guest Nanshoku-Samurai]

Hello Andreas,

 

I am sorry but have to wholeheartetly disagree with you. After having spend many years on eBay I absolutely believe that you can judge a blade from pictures, even if the blade is in bad condition and there are only poor pictures available. The golden rule is: Be prepared that what you get is even worse than what it had looked like. You can easily tell an oil quenched blade by the pictures.

 

Regards,

 

Max

[roninjje]

I agree, you can tell oil tempering, especially that swords, a mile away.

When you handle enough swords, look at enough good sword porn you then get pretty intuitive. What kills me is poor lighting at gun shows, even holding a sword in hand if the lighting is poor it can be difficult.