Thread: J-Nat club

Has anyone else seen the multiple "maruka" stones on ebay? They don't appear to be the same quality, and the stamps look fishy to me. I have several genuine maruka stones, and my stamps don't look like any of the ones I see on ebay. Here is the stamp I think is fake. Just wanted to see if anyone could confirm my theory and help newbies from paying a lot of money for a fake.

Originally Posted by prodigy

Has anyone else seen the multiple "maruka" stones on ebay? They don't appear to be the same quality, and the stamps look fishy to me. I have several genuine maruka stones, and my stamps don't look like any of the ones I see on ebay. Here is the stamp I think is fake. Just wanted to see if anyone could confirm my theory and help newbies from paying a lot of money for a fake.

Unless something changed with the miner's association, the stamp looks too... computer generated, not made by hand. The old ones have imperfections on the letters, the ink is not uniform, with darker places here and there. The corners are rounded and the letters are a lot thicker! If someone with more experience says it's a genuine, his opinion is worth more. But as I see it, it's clearly fake.

I'd say for 'modern' for the same reasons Vasilis mentions.

Hatanaka-San bought out the business interests of Kato-San including the rights to the stamps, etc. I do not know if the Hatanaka company ever used the maruka stamp on stones as Kato-San did, but they did at least seem to use it in printed leaflets included with Hatahoshi-stamped stones.

My vote is it is a fake.

Cheers, Steve

Yea I had my thoughts. The same seller had been confronted by me and garrett (jnats). He was selling unmarked stones as maruka. I guess he got tired of people calling him out, so he had a stamp made. Thanks for the info gents. Steve, is that your stone in that pic?

Yes, it's mine.

Cheers, Steve

BTW, I have bought both razors and a few stones from this seller and can say that I've been happy with all the razors and most of the few stones considering the price (low). One stone in particular is very, very good but it was not cheap.

He generally sells thin used stones and a selection of used razors whose condition ranges from poor to excellent. I bought a Tanifuji from him for $50 or so that is in almost new condition except for a spot or two of pitting up next to the spine. Fantastic razor.

I have not bought from him in some time, and I notice that he is now much higher on many things in his listings.

Cheers, Steve

Originally Posted by Steve56

BTW, I have bought both razors and a few stones from this seller and can say that I've been happy with all the razors and most of the few stones considering the price (low). One stone in particular is very, very good but it was not cheap.

He generally sells thin used stones and a selection of used razors whose condition ranges from poor to excellent. I bought a Tanifuji from him for $50 or so that is in almost new condition except for a spot or two of pitting up next to the spine. Fantastic razor.

I have not bought from him in some time, and I notice that he is now much higher on many things in his listings.

Cheers, Steve

I concur with all those comments. He has some good stuff, and I've had some good stones and razors come from him. Now that he is pricing higher and not accepting reasonable offers, and marking stones, I won't be buying from him.

Originally Posted by prodigy

I concur with all those comments. He has some good stuff, and I've had some good stones and razors come from him. Now that he is pricing higher and not accepting reasonable offers, and marking stones, I won't be buying from him.

Under those circumstances I'll take a pass too.

Cheers, Steve

Selling counterfeit products on ebay is against its policies, and with a few reports the seller will have to either change his attitude or be banned.
Even without copyright, a stone stamped to imitate an original is a fake, and the above rule applies. Kind of similar to selling watches with the brand Rolex that aren't.
On a search on ebay I couldn't find the above stone. Does anyone mind PMing me his account? I really really don't want a new wave like the one with the yellow lake stones where in the end you didn't know which is the real one and which is the purple slate tile, only, a few hundreds of $$ more expensive.

Originally Posted by Vasilis

Selling counterfeit products on ebay is against its policies, and with a few reports the seller will have to either change his attitude or be banned.
Even without copyright, a stone stamped to imitate an original is a fake, and the above rule applies. Kind of similar to selling watches with the brand Rolex that aren't.
On a search on ebay I couldn't find the above stone. Does anyone mind PMing me his account? I really really don't want a new wave like the one with the yellow lake stones where in the end you didn't know which is the real one and which is the purple slate tile, only, a few hundreds of $$ more expensive.

The listing seems to have been pulled or the stone sold in the past hour or so. I'll PM you a listing by the same seller with a similar stamp. Right now, I see two stones up with the stamp. You can search eBay for "Maruka whetstone' and they'll be in the page or so of listings.

Cheers, Steve