There are still good swords out there!!!!

Recently I was asked to bid on a sword for a friend as he would be away, auction rooms are not my favorite place and never have been but as a favour (& a bottle of whiskey......) I spent the most boring afternoon waiting for  his lot to come up.

Auctions are where you can witness the best and worst of humanity, the best is the eccentrics buying odd and ridiculous things,and why not.

The worst is seeing auction "Rings" at work.

Anyway, I bought within his price the sword. I have to say it interested me as it had an early sugata {Shape} but as the Tsuka {Hilt} could not easily be removed and the blade was covered in hardened old military grease, it was a gamble.

He did not like it!!! and asked if I would be interested in keeping it.....old addictions are not easy to relinquish so I took the offer.      The sword is in ShinGunto mounts with a combat cover but with a cut out for a Civil Kurikata, so when I unclipped the top of the cover  and found that the civil saya was covered in blue lacquered shark skin with a black lacquer Dragon.....I will admit to more than an old fellow can usually get EXCITED.

The hilt came off after some effort and revealed a Tachi Mei "Bi Zen Osafune SukeSada" inscription. The Nakago is not the usual Bizen that we see but a much more elegant old style seen on early Bizen swords......this with a strong Koshi Zori,much Fumbari and tiny Kissaki now has me truly interested.

When the grease was cleaned off it shows a good Hamon in Ko Midare,the Nakago has been shaved to allow fitting of the Habaki, this often seen on swords where a number of Japanese polish have taken place.

So, we have a sword that seems at this stage to be in the region of 600years old. Civil saya in Military mounts that have a 'Shaky'(Loose) silver family crest,wonderfull early Koto Sugata (Sukesada smith's are usually no earlier than around 1400). No major flaws but is as you would expect, not as healthy as a Gendaito.............What fun!!!.

The moral to this is that THEY ARE STILL OUT THERE.

Lastly a friend has been to a number of auctions around the country, he was looking for a reasonably priced sword. His last visit was to Wallace & Wallace, could buy nothing, swords that we see on ebay (and my web site) were making hundreds and sometimes thousands of pounds more than can be bought here............Take time my friends, do not be put off by condition, read,learn and you can still find good Japanese swords that will not break the bank.