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Announcing a New
Fittings and Antiques Web Site
Silk-Road.us
Sho-shin has
no added commision on Silk-Road. Pricing is set
entirely by the owner
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Kozuka
&
Kodogu
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Matchlocks
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Treasure
Trove
Interest
Items
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Display
Time
Payment Option Available
Tonoshiro
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Plug your Ears and Open your
Eyes
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Time is your Friend, Haste
your Enemy
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All Rules Are Beginner's Rules
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Advice
on
Polishing
People ask
how to go about having their sword
polished.
My Advice:
Find the quality of polish you
admire. Ask the owner who polished
that sword and contact that
polisher directly. NEVER
have a dealer or go between take
your sword for polish. They charge
a large percentage and contract
for cheap work.
Rule:
Pay as little as possible for a
sword - but always pay as much as
possible for quality polish. You
do not want to have poor polish
work.
Therefore never
use a dealer for a go-between;
always write the actual polisher
and send your sword to that
person, yourself. |
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Note
on Care of Books
| With
books, one mar or fingerprint to
the ink of the pictures - one
crease or crush to a page - any
difference from brand-new, creates
value loss and permanently sets
the book back. Just as chips in a
blade - or chips in the lacquer of
a Saya create value loss. It is
overt damage.
"Normal
use" is damage to books.
Anyone
having reference or collector
books, antique book collectors
or curators, all have the same,
expected and specific method of
handling books. - This is
similar to proper sword
etiquette being the only
allowable method.
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Important
Note on Collecting
| It is
perhaps a partial statement, but
none the less not far-fetched, to
say that the sword appraisal
agencies and sword clubs in modern
Japan have made up and created a
mind set for today's collectors;
and have set them like sheep for
the polished, papered "Packaged"
sword products. - Little notice
has been taken that the real
Samurai swords, the actual swords
of the Samurai - are being wholly
altered, ground up by polishing
and re-constructed, essentially
ending their specific histories.
When a
Temple or Shrine is completely
reconstructed; or moved down the
street to make way for a parking
garage - is it the same?
One of the aspects
for collectors is certainly
polished, and papered swords; -
While the other, however, are
original, real Samurai antique
swords. Nihonto.
The two are
not the same
Many of
the Japanese collectors would
never bother changing, papering
or altering their swords at all
- of course, the why of this
hasn't been loudly preached.
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Selling
before
Buying
My Advice:
They will sell when they sell. They
really will. They'll sell
tomorrow - or maybe within the
year.
How will it
feel looking back in five years,
if your sale items sell in a month
- or in a year and half?
Once sold,
they are gone and not before.
Generally,
it doesn't matter - only that
they sold at some point and that
you didn't let a thing you
wanted, get away.
Otherwise,
you end up with the things that
didn't sell.
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Pictures Don't Show
What Can't Be Seen
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Swords
First,
Price Second
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The Old Way is the Right Way
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Sword
Sale