Anyone collect the real deal? Pre WWII ? Just starting out and looking for some direction or pointers. Feel free to PM also
I used to live in Japan and got really really close to buying some Japanese sword stuff. It wasn't so much the swords themselves, more the smaller parts that carried traditional Japanese designs (such as the hand guards - tsuba). The artwork and craftsmanship is just great, and really strikes a chord with me. In the end I just didn't have the funds to justify buying any original pieces, and modern reproductions just aren't the same. I was lucky though that the owner of the company was a collector, and I had a fantastic afternoon at his house and was allowed to see his collection with him. If you ever get to Japan there is a fantastic sword museum in Tokyo, and Choshu-ya is a great for window shopping. http://www.choshuya.co.jp
I used to collect Nihonto and kodogu (though I have always been a Nihonto scholar more than a collector.) Over the years, however, I have sold many and am in the process of selling a couple more on consignment mainly because when I'm gone there will be no one in my family who would appreciate them or would even be able to care for them properly. Including the ones I'm trying to part with, now I only have two katana, one wakizashi and two tanto, all of which are properly papered by the NBTHK - ranging from an older Tokubetsu-Kicho to Tokubetsu Hozon. (I have never had a Juyo level Nihonto in my collection.) I also have several tsuba and Fuchi/Kashira and menuki for my next koshirae projects, if I can find a good koshirae-shi....
I would love to own (ie. be the temporary custodian of) a good katana in 18th century scabbard and mounts. I don't know them but I have enough of an eye for craftsmanship to understand that the skill of those Japanese metalworkers was breathtaking, far far ahead of anything we in the West were doing at the time. Good luck with your own search. I have a few bits of 17th century English armour. This officer-quality helmet is probably from about 1670.
I'm a bit of a European sword buff, myself. Mostly interested in medieval ones. I considered collecting them, but the prices of anything pre-17th century are crazy, and a lot of the more affordable 'excavated condition' ones are fake. Given that it's very difficult even for experts to ascertain authenticity (...even the famous Wallace collection appears to have Frankenswords) I decided against it. Don't know much about katanas, but I can imagine that fakery and marriages would be common there, too. Be cautious! I personally decided to limit myself to studying real ones, and collecting replica's. Not of the ornamental, 'wallhanger' variety (that we in the community refer to as SLO's for Sword-Like Objects) but rather functional, historically accurate reproductions or reinterpretations by knowledgeable manufacturers such as Albion (https://www.albion-swords.com/swords/johnsson/swords-museum.htm). As an analogy: I think it's like buying a FOIS rather than a franken CK2998 or CK2998 'homage'.
If anyone here intend to visit Denmark this year, I'd recommend you pop in and see the exhibition "Learning from Japan" at the Design Museum in Copenhagen. The exhibition shows how the best of Danish (and other Nordic) designers were influenced by Japanese arts and crafts. It is absolutely breathtaking and has made me reconsider how I live. One of the highlights is a cabinet made by the father of Danish furniture design, professor Kaare Klint. It was made to order for a wealthy Danish doctor who was a collector of Japanese items, mainly sword guards, and has a number of drawers containg the more than 1700 (!) items with a catalogue detailing each. After his death, the cabinet w/ contents were bequathed to the museum. Unfortunately I have no photos of it, but it is stunning, as is its contents. http://designmuseum.dk/en/udstillinger/japanisme