Anyone know anything about antique Japanese swords??

I'm thinking of buying a Katana at an upcoming auction but I know so little about them. I'd love to tap into your expertise, obviously willing to pay if it is a time sink. If you interested in helping me out, can you PM me?

TIA

Try bladesmith's forums. There are a few guys over there that might be able to help you.

If you are spending bucks on a vintage sword it is good to have documentation. It should be in good shape restoring and polishing a Katana is very expensive and be done by a professional.

I would agree posting this question on a Katana forum. Of coarse having a sword expert at the auction is best. Katana go from being not worth much to very valuable. Without expertise you do not know what you are looking at.

If it is the real deal it should cost $10,000+. Touch the blade and hand back to the seller. If he doesnt wipe the blade immediately consider it another studio prop.

Chef Doom said:

If it is the real deal it should cost $10,000+.

Click to expand...

Plenty are cheaper than $10K. Aoi-Art has a couple listed for under US$3K, in full polish (one is WW2, and the other is gimei (the signature is fake), so less desirable for collectors). Out-of-polish antiques can be had for under US$1K. Sinsakuto (newly-made swords) can be found for under US$3K (unmounted, rough polish only).

But if one want to spend $10K+, there are plenty of choices.

Not knowledgeable much either (read into the stuff a bit in the past though, so let me condense what I read) - but IIRC a "katana" at an auction could be one of five things:

- A "Nihonto" sword. True antique collectible, which you aren't even supposed to do your own maintenance on if not trained. Culture around it seems to be the perfect opposite to Hocho owner's culture ("Got something expensive and rare? Well, sharpen it, and when's dinner?")
- A "Gunto" sword. A relatively modern (eg WWII) military issue sword, made as a uniform accessory/people skewering tool from the start, without much regards to art or craftsmanship. Some of these, though, seem to be modified Nihonto! Before handling any of these, mind that it might be something that was pointed at your own people in anger in its past.
- A modern (even if it might be a few decades old stock, even if it might be handmade) katana intended for sports use (eg Tameshigiri).
- A non-japanese asian sword (could be art or military issue) accidentally or maliciously missold as japanese.
- Counterfeit, or missold cheap wallhanger/toy replica that wouldn't even make a good sports sword.

To add to the above:

- Some gunto have traditionally-made (hand-made) blades made specially for them, and some have antique family blades remounted as gunto. Officers would buy their own swords, and could and would use blades they already had. NCO swords were issued, and typically have mass-produced blades.

- Modern traditionally-made made-in-Japan swords are still nihonto. "Nihonto" just means it's traditionally-made and made in Japan, and doesn't mean it's antique. Cheap modern nihonto are often made for martial arts use, but many modern nihonto are made for the collector market, and these are more expensive. Part of the price difference is the cost of the better polish the "art swords" get (not "art" as in "martial arts" = "martial skills", but "art" as in fine art), and part of the difference is that the smiths selling to the collector market are the better smiths and command higher prices.

- As for maintenance of nihonto, the owner is expected to clean and oil it. Polishing (which is basically sharpening - putting the blade on the stones) is what is left to the professionals. A full polish will typically cost about $1000 to $2000, and a bad polish can greatly reduce the value of a sword, either because the new owner will feel the need to fix the bad polish be getting it re-polished, or the bad polish has done things like round off the ridge or yokote, etc. Since art swords don't usually get used for cutting (why risk putting scratches on a $2K polish?), and are kept clean and oiled, there's no need for an owner to re-polish their blade. Polishing is not regular maintenance. Some people will try to polish antiques that they buy in poor condition, and they often ruin them as far as nihonto collectors are concerned (but often the blade is already junk as far as nihonto collectors are concerned).

@TiemoNieminen my mistake about the antiqueness - I know they are made today too, probably assumed these are antiques the moment they are made , I probably should have read my sentence twice What I really wasn't aware of is that some "martial arts grade" swords were included in that group too.

Aoi Art is indeed the place to go. Extremely knowledgeable and reputable. I have a wakizashi from them that dates to pre-1600. Mind-boggling.

I don't check in here often, but if you would like some advice feel free to drop me a PM.