Thread: Is this a Naniwa family portrait?

I've been playing with 6K hones lately, and I've been collecting a few of the oddballs, including the "Yellow Penguin" from JWW. I opened the box and got a couple of surprises, one of which was a familiar-looking group of stamps on the side. These appear to be Naniwa's stamps, and the numbers are clearly in the same typeface. This stone has a Penguin sticker, and the only English on the box is "Penguin Brand" and "Penguin Stone."

In this pic, the 6K is between the Chosera 5K and the SW 8.



The big question is whether this yellow stone is actually made by Naniwa. If so, why don't they market it under their own name?

Is it possible that you are the only one who knows which stone is which?

Jerry

I'd say it's just seller branding like King, Ice bear, Kitayama are all made by Matsunaga Stone Company.

Just to add a little mystery, this same stone is also sold under the Nubatama "brand" but misclassified as a 4K stone. Under magnification, the scratch pattern's clearly on par with other 6K stones, so I owe my Imanishi 4K an apology for declaring it to be the inferior of what I thought were two 4K stones.

You can get the major stone companies in Japan to make your own line, they just put your name on the hone and voila.
You can also get custom made stones by your specification, much like JNS 800,1k,3k,and 6k.