5 GUIDELINES for the Beginning Collector

Рет қаралды 2,312

Күн бұрын

This is video I developed to provide some helpful guidelines and suggestions for individuals who are beginning in the field of collecting Japanese swords.

Пікірлер: 13

@KunsthandwerkWulf Жыл бұрын

Very huge thanks to you for making a video like this! Kind regards from Germany!

@katana1960 8 ай бұрын

Great video. I've been collecting for about 25 years and I agree with everything he said. I would add a few more tips for beginning collectors: 1) If you're working class and broke most of the time like I was, don't do it. It's a rich mans game. If not rich, then at least well off with a fair amount of disposable income. 2) Lean towards WWII gendito swords. Buy John Slough's book "Modern Japanese Swordsmiths 1868 to 1945." There are photos of sword tangs with Japanese inscriptions. The main reason for going this route is that the signatures on recent swords are rarely faked. I'm sure it has happened, but I haven't heard of a single case. The problem with old swords is that you are more likely to have a fake signature on an old sword than a WWI sword. The more famous the maker, the more likely it is fake. If you send your sword to Japan for shinsa (authentication), you will be disappointed and lose hundreds of dollars. 3) Consider collecting sword guards (tsubas) or other fittings. They are highly collectible and won't brake the bank like the actual blades. Some of them get very expensive, but you can buy some very good ones for under $500. 4) He mentioned it, but I can't over emphasize fakes. Ebay is full of them. Assume that it is fake until you can convince yourself otherwise. A good way to tell on Ebay if something is fake or not is to look at how many people bid on an item. Several collectors will bid on authentic items. Also look at the sellers other items and his sales record. Consider everything from China to be fake. Only buy from Japan, the US, Canada, Europe or Australia. These countries sell fakes too, but at least you have a chance. 5) Don't buy heavily rusted or damaged swords and think you can restore them. You can't in most cases. Or even if you do, it won't be right or will look amateurish. Old blades have already been polished several times. If you sand or polish to blade too many times, you can take the last layer of hard steel (kawagana) off and leave the soft layer exposed. If you do that, you just ruined it and made it useless to collectors.

@rb3537 8 ай бұрын

What do you define as “a rich man’s game”? For nice swords are you tall king about $10k a year? $100k?

@katana1960 8 ай бұрын

You can buy a so-so wak or katana for $1000 or less, or a good one for $2000. So it boils down to how many you want or can afford a year. To buy quality swords with papers it's $3K and up. To send your swords for a polish it's at least $2K, and getting shinsha is about a $500 roll of the dice (because they often fail shinsha). So if you're making $60 or $70K a year, it would be hard to work that into your budget unless you're single. @@rb3537