The End of an Era?
- Thread starter Gamma
- Start date
That will make an awesome countertop
Well. i guess nothing is forever. I confess to being sad to see the end of it and somewhat alarmed that it signifies an uptick in jnat prices.
I don't get it. Is this one 800+ year old stone the source of all of the jnat hones?
The listing says that they continue to be mined.
The listing says that they continue to be mined.
- Thread starter
- #5
Stay tuned.
It ain't over till the fat lady sings.
Nakayama is no longer active - most mines are out of commission actually.
A few still operate - rumour has it that there is some activity at Okudo but until I see a new stone from there......
Ohira is still operating though.
It ain't over till the fat lady sings.
Nakayama is no longer active - most mines are out of commission actually.
A few still operate - rumour has it that there is some activity at Okudo but until I see a new stone from there......
Ohira is still operating though.
Last edited:
Explain?
- Thread starter
- #7
I can't - not yet. Maybe not ever. But definitely not right now. Lol.
The description says 70,000.00 
That one has been around for a while.
I offered $5 and he accepted-LOL
I wish
I offered $5 and he accepted-LOL
I wish
Please tell me you bought this Gamma.
If I were a richer man I would have offered him $1k to see if he'd have taken it.
If I were a richer man I would have offered him $1k to see if he'd have taken it.
Wonderful 
- Thread starter
- #13
Nope - not me. Im not convinced its Namayama Or 5••.
His stones are.often cut poorly and the gamble would be too high here.
The Namazu or Yake bothers me - Id guess that area is softer. I could be wrong, but without being able to inspect and test it first hand I would never even make an offer on it.
He wouldnt take 1k though. His bottom line was a bit higher.
Last edited:
The 3k one actually interested me more. Looked more like my stone, and I wouldn't mind my stone in jumbotron. The 20k though, if you don't like it as a hone, well you've got a darn unique coffee table.
I take it you at least know who bought it, and will get them to give us details when it arrives?
I take it you at least know who bought it, and will get them to give us details when it arrives?
For a stone in that price range I would negotiate a round trip ticket as a deduction of the purchase price. 330Mate (Nakaoka-san) is a unique fellow for sure, his E-bay presence is all over the place with his prices. I have seen a few karasu that long but stones like that as in the photo below but these large stones are really for display like dressing up as retail store promotions, like the bottom photo.
Nakaoaka will not be able to sell that stone for $20,000, and the $70k price is purely fiction, they are not that rare. Without seeing and testing it I would put it more into the $5k to $7k retail range and that should be negotiable. The issure with Nakaoaka-san is that because he does get his hands dirty and does dig, he has a odd sense of values and is somewhat of a loner. A couple of mines out near Kameoka still dig but the quality is low and they are not prestige locations, where as Nakaoaka is digging very close in to the old Nakayama site in Umegahata so he thinks that has some bearing on his product. I see him set up at shows in Japan all the time and he does have some business but mostly for the small koppa types like some of you fellows here have bought from him on Ebay.
This light colored kiita I would buy before the karasu as a user, this was his fathers store display and it will never be sold however. I see these display stones every once in a while and a lot of them came from Nakayama and Narutaki from the final days when they used bull dozers and steam shovels to close up the mines. A lot of larger stones were uncovered when they did that. The other mines up valley were too steep to bring in heavy equipment so those were just left as is.
Hope this helps,
Alex
Nakaoaka will not be able to sell that stone for $20,000, and the $70k price is purely fiction, they are not that rare. Without seeing and testing it I would put it more into the $5k to $7k retail range and that should be negotiable. The issure with Nakaoaka-san is that because he does get his hands dirty and does dig, he has a odd sense of values and is somewhat of a loner. A couple of mines out near Kameoka still dig but the quality is low and they are not prestige locations, where as Nakaoaka is digging very close in to the old Nakayama site in Umegahata so he thinks that has some bearing on his product. I see him set up at shows in Japan all the time and he does have some business but mostly for the small koppa types like some of you fellows here have bought from him on Ebay.
This light colored kiita I would buy before the karasu as a user, this was his fathers store display and it will never be sold however. I see these display stones every once in a while and a lot of them came from Nakayama and Narutaki from the final days when they used bull dozers and steam shovels to close up the mines. A lot of larger stones were uncovered when they did that. The other mines up valley were too steep to bring in heavy equipment so those were just left as is.
Hope this helps,
Alex
- Thread starter
- #16
I have a very interesting story about that 3k stone - won't post it here though.
I do know who won the auction, not sure about what the plans from this point on are though.
I do know who won the auction, not sure about what the plans from this point on are though.
A very fitting proverb a fool and his money soon part company.
- Thread starter
- #18
Possibly - possibly not.
You have my info.
Alex, very cool pictures. On the idea of "display" what does something like one of those 50kg-ish looking slabs of karasu sell for as a display (lets assume they found it to be useless as a hone)? If I ever strike it rich, I'm buying one.
And you seem to suggest that there's not much prestige to the other currently active mines, giving him a sense that his mines location gives his stones a premium quality... Am I right in taking that to mean that generally the most sought after and exciting stones at these shows you speak of are all old stock from closed mines? Is there really enough material like that to sustain an active market? If the answer to that is no, how much of an issue is forgery/questionably stories of history? For instance, the 330mate random razor hone listings ($25+shipping or thereabouts) do, as I recall, claim that all those stones are "pre-ww2"... which seems to me suspect as he's a miner who's currently digging, right?
And back to the mine prestige question. Do you feel this lack of prestige is justified? Is it your sense that the closed mines in fact produced superior rocks to what is being dug now?
Last edited:
The price just dropped by 50%. I recall that this was previously listed for 14'000$.
