Originally Posted by
Vasilis
After seeing the seller and what he sells, indeed, it would be a pity if he was banned, but the practice of stamping his random stones must stop.
In Japan stamps don't mean a lot, if anything, because if you want one, you visit a shop, test and buy what you need.
For us though, stamps make a huge difference. A year ago I bought a stone from Ouchi quarry or something, a kiita. Perfectly shaped, no broken corners, full of red dots, the radiolaria kind, a beauty, if it was a nakayama it would fetch 5k$. Bought it for 270?$ or somewhere around there. It was absolutely awful, almost no cutting power although not hard, you couldn't shave with it, and it was useless as a prefinisher as well because of the lack of cutting power...
We don't have the luxury to visit a Japanese hone's shop here. That's why that insurance is important.