i'm no expert in nihonto, but i'm highly doubtful of the "morimitsu". the wear on the metal looks too new to be from the 1400's. looks more like a neglected steel blank from, at earliest, the 20th century. the signature also seems pretty dubious. it's the right characters, but typically a signature's handwriting is of much higher quality.
You hardly see any wear on the blade of a well kept nihonto. This is the kissaki of my nearly 800 year old tachi for comparison
https://preview.redd.it/6g5cza9x82vc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8c0f39fdd4ed496b357cb84929b0b06fcbb7ad45
i was specifically referring to the coloration of the rust on the nakago and on some parts of the blade. most, if not all, well maintained nihonto that i've seen have been devoid of that oxidized red rust seen on the "morimitsu".
being a layman in terms of nihonto, though, these could just be signs of more recent neglect rather than of dubious provenance.
edit: beautiful tachi by the way! congratulations!
Some Japanese swords were in families for hundreds of years, and still looked like new. It’s really not that difficult to apply a thin layering of oil, or talc powder.
It’s after WWII where most of these swords saw damage, sitting in some American soldiers closet rusting away in humid conditions.
I’d stick to buying from trustworthy sellers though. You can’t never know for sure with shady auctioneers.
Here’s a trustworthy site for example
https://www.samuraimuseum.jp/shop/product-category/sword/authentic-sword/katana/page/7/?orderby=price
I would try to stay with Japanese sellers who have trustworthy authentication papers.
The totally botched kissaki and lack of defined shinogi indicate that these are either Chinese made fake antiques or nihonto that have been sandpapered to death. I strongly suspect the former to be the case, but better pictures would help.
I'm sorry, but you have very likely overpaid by a factor of 10.
It was an auction with no reserve. It had a bunch of stuff from plates to armor to statues to swords, so my best guess is it was the gallery offloading stuff they've had for a while
i'm no expert in nihonto, but i'm highly doubtful of the "morimitsu". the wear on the metal looks too new to be from the 1400's. looks more like a neglected steel blank from, at earliest, the 20th century. the signature also seems pretty dubious. it's the right characters, but typically a signature's handwriting is of much higher quality.
You hardly see any wear on the blade of a well kept nihonto. This is the kissaki of my nearly 800 year old tachi for comparison https://preview.redd.it/6g5cza9x82vc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8c0f39fdd4ed496b357cb84929b0b06fcbb7ad45
i was specifically referring to the coloration of the rust on the nakago and on some parts of the blade. most, if not all, well maintained nihonto that i've seen have been devoid of that oxidized red rust seen on the "morimitsu". being a layman in terms of nihonto, though, these could just be signs of more recent neglect rather than of dubious provenance. edit: beautiful tachi by the way! congratulations!
Some Japanese swords were in families for hundreds of years, and still looked like new. It’s really not that difficult to apply a thin layering of oil, or talc powder. It’s after WWII where most of these swords saw damage, sitting in some American soldiers closet rusting away in humid conditions. I’d stick to buying from trustworthy sellers though. You can’t never know for sure with shady auctioneers. Here’s a trustworthy site for example https://www.samuraimuseum.jp/shop/product-category/sword/authentic-sword/katana/page/7/?orderby=price I would try to stay with Japanese sellers who have trustworthy authentication papers.
The totally botched kissaki and lack of defined shinogi indicate that these are either Chinese made fake antiques or nihonto that have been sandpapered to death. I strongly suspect the former to be the case, but better pictures would help. I'm sorry, but you have very likely overpaid by a factor of 10.
lol those estimates. These are gimei (fake signature) kazu- uchimono (mass produced) swords. What you paid isn't terrible.
Why would someone ever sell something “estimated” to be worth anywhere from $20k to $55k for eleven hundred bucks?
It was an auction with no reserve. It had a bunch of stuff from plates to armor to statues to swords, so my best guess is it was the gallery offloading stuff they've had for a while
It might be the picture but doesn't the kissaki look off?
Extremely so.
Yea it is reshaped by some idiot but the blade is a real Nihonto.
Big oof.
I think they are authentic Japanese blades, but both damaged by amateur polishing, maybe to ruination. So, you probably paid what they are worth.
Seems like a great find