blades87

Thanks, William. I am not familiar with the Naval Gunto sayas and normally see the Army Gunto covers. Either way, it looks like the original saya was placed inside of a leather combat cover.

I have come across an interesting item that I recently purchased. I bought a black combat cover with a black saya wood core. Normally, I have seen unfinished wood cores inside of these leather covers, but this one appears to have been lacquered. Furthermore, when I removed the core, I noticed that it had a groove (what is this called in Japanese) for a kurikata. Is it common to have a saya with a kurikata in a leather cover? I looked at the core and there is plenty of wood on the mune and nagasa sides of the saya to indicate that this core could be glued together. I have attached four pictures that are pretty large in the zip file. Thanks for your help on this one. saya.zip

http://cgi.ebay.com/Antique-Rare-Vintag ... 414e1a4128 I saw this listing and just had to laugh at the asking price. $1million. The ad for this items gets better. The seller is looking for $2,000 for the helmet, which looks like a reproduction, unless they had wing nuts (picture #3) in feudal Japan. :lol:

I am a new collector and have spent a lot of time looking at real WW2 fittings, which is the best way to identify what looks real and what looks like a reproduction. I agree that the menuki look real. As for the fuchi, tsuka ito, tsuba and kashira, the patterns simply do not fit the traditional fittings made during the Showa period. If you look at the fuchi, the pattern doesn't look like the traditional WW2 fuchi: http://www.quanonline.com/military/mili ... _lock2.jpg http://www.quanonline.com/military/mili ... abbard.jpg Another thing to look at is the level of patina (corrosion) on the fittings. Your pieces look polished. The pattern on the tsuba doesn't look right, in comparrison to WW2 tsubas: http://www.quanonline.com/military/mili ... _tsuba.jpg Finally, as noted in the prior posts, the line on the nagako that transitions the shinogiji to the nagako is not straight. If the nagako was heavily corroded, that line may waver. Your nagako looks in tact, so that line should be pretty straight. Another thing to look out for is the Damascus forging pattern. Than pattern shouldn't really extend into the hada or hamon and unless it is a brand new sword, the pattern probably won't appear very crisp. Most of the patterns I have seen on fakes are acid etched. I check with the Japanese WWII military reference (http://www.quanonline.com/military/mili ... anese.html) because it has a lot of images of different styles of WW2 swords. As a general rule of thumb, if the sword looks a bit odd, then more than likely the sword may be a fake. Finally, ask questions here on NMB. The message board has a lot of members with years of experience collecting, so ask a question and learn from their wisdom. Stephen, Grey, John Stuart, Jean and a whole host of members are great points of reference not only for WW2 swords, but for traditional swords as well. Hope the information in this post helps. Cheers,

Semper Fidelis, Marine.

Good point, Franco. From a forging process perspective, it could be caused by poor steel or using a hardening method that resulted in the edge becoming brittle. From an owner perspective, it could be from using it incorrectly when striking an object in the past or it could be from an owner who used an old blade as a practice weapon. At last look the blade was selling for over $400.

Came across this blade yesterday: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWAX:IT "The blade does have two small cracks near the habaki step. If this area is reworked, the cutting edge is 23.0" and the tang is lengthened by the same amount (1.5") The width of the blade is 1.25" at the habaki and the thickness at this point is .28"." From what I understand about hagire, it is a fatal flaw that normally results in the blade being scrapped and re-forged. In this case, the seller states that you can re-work the nagasa to shorten it by 1.5 inches. I find this a bit difficult to believe because you need to polish the mune, shinogiji and ha down while extending the length of the nagako. Also, from what I understand about hagire, is that if you find one, there are probably more hagire. So, the question I raise is would it be feasible to rework a blade as described by the seller? Cheers, Toby

While this is not your traditional show, I have come across a vendor who has some nice wakizashis and tantos in his inventory. This particular vendor (whose name escapes me at the moment), normally sets up near the front door of the Tanner show and seems to do his research on the items in his inventory. I ran into him last weekend at the Gun Show of the Rockies in Loveland and he had two older wakizashis and three tantos, along with a leather fuchi fitting for a shin gunto and an older looking tsuba with some gold inlay. I am thinking of visiting the Tanner show this weekend and will post any items I find at the show. Cheers, Toby

Looks like our eBay seller who has been trying to move 27 Japanese swords has given up on people bidding on them and set a price. http://cgi.ebay.com/ANTIQUE-Japanese-SW ... 2a04b94f97 $27,999 with a local pick-up only in North Carolina. I think he may have a bit more luck selling them individually and given the state of some of the swords, I think he might be hard pressed to average $1000 per sword. Toby

I met Jon for the first time last night to have him straighten a wakizashi for me and I spent a couple of hours talking with him about a whole host of topics. I found an online article on Jon and wanted to share it with the NMB forum. I have seen some NMB posts related to his work, so I figured I could share a bit of information that I found. http://www.bigempire.com/sake/sword.html Enjoy. Toby Z.

True, but given the amount of fake stuff on the market, I would think that a collector would want to be able to verify the piece is authentic. Then again, buyers tend to make hasty decisions to invest in something they perceive as valuable and will spare no expense. Cabbage Patch Kids and Beanie Babies are prime examples of buyers spending a lot on items they perceive as valuable and there was limited supply for those items. I guess WW2 era swords fall into that category. If memory serves me correctly, I believe there was an estimated 250K swords brought into the US after WW2.

I would totally agree with you, Robert and I have no idea why that sword went for $500. Funny thing was I also watching a 16th century blade in much nicer condition sit there with no bids at $450. Someone finally bid on the blade for $450. Edo blade (closed listing on eBay) http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWAX:IT eBay is a very interesting place to watch bidding transactions on WW2 era Japanese swords. I just don't get it.

Wow! Many thanks, Moriyama-san. I am extremely impressed that you were able to identify the mei from those photos. I applaud your efforts!

Thanks for the response, Ted and I totally agree that when acquiring a sword, the focus should be on validating the authenticity of the sword. Since I am always open for discussion in order to learn more about identifying the authenticity of a sword, here is my assessment. - The ha does not appear to have an active hamon. Part of this may be obscured by the polishing wheel that the owner used. - The condition of the tang appears to have a lot of corrosion, which is obscuring the omote mei and file markings - The saya doesn't fit the design for Showa period military swords. I do not know enough about civilian mounts during this period to comment. - The sword and the saya may not be a matched pair. Looking at the picture with the habaki extending out of the saya, the sword may not fit or the paint on the habaki is preventing the sword from sitting properly in the saya. I have some doubts whether this sword was traditionally made. Furthermore, polishing the nagasa with a polishing wheel may have caused irrepairable damage and the sword appears to have been neglected. This sword may be a low to medium quality sword. If there is any flaw in my assessment or there are aspects I have overlooked, please feel free to comment. -------------------------------------- As for the story behind the sword, I agree that the story should not be the focus of the assessment. I do, however, believe that a story that appears to be inaccurate compromises the integrity of a seller. While the story of Custer's trumpet is indeed tongue and cheek, it would be a different story if the seller stated that Custer used the trumpet during his march to the sea in the Civil War when he burned everything to the ground. If the story seems a bit far fetched, then how much more is the seller embellishing and how would that affect the price you would pay for an item? -------------------------------------- Final topic: the chance that a Japanese katana ended up in Russian POW camp and the sword being turned over to Allied forces. If there are any World War 2 historians out there, I would be interested in understanding if there are some aspects of my analysis of the story that I may have overlooked. -------------------------------------- Thanks for your comments, Ted and I look forward to discussing the aforementioned topics with the members.

I came across this item on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWAX:IT Looking at the condition of the saya and fittings, it looks like it was made in a manner not indicative of the mass production swords of WW2. I started reading the description of the item and I began to raise questions. The seller was told by the owner that he received the sword from a Russian POW camp. "I have no history other than The previous owner said he got it at a Russian Prisoner of war camp during WWII." Ok, here's where things don't quite add up or seem to be a bit vague. While the Russians had 500K to 750k Japanese POWs after WW2, most of those Japanese POWs would have been fighting in China or Korea. The likelihood of Allied Pacific theater forces meeting up with Russian forces seems a bit unlikely, based on what I understand about the war in the Pacific theater. Furthermore, the likelihood of a European theater forces getting a Japanese sword seems very unlikely. And, based upon what I know about the fate Russian POWs returning to Russia met, I find it really unlikely that the events described by the owner really happened. This leads me to draw the following conclusions: 1. The seller was handed a tale by an owner who either didn't have their facts straight or made it up. 2. The sword may be a Chinese variant 3. Some poor Japanese soldier hauled a family sword into China. This may account for all of those fantastic copies we see coming out of China! So, I pass this topic to the folks on the forums to get their thoughts on the historical accuracy of the facts outlined in this item description. By the way, I looked at the mei on the blade and have no clue who the smith might be. The factory optional paint on the tang and habaki are a nice touch. So is the fine grinding technique the owner used to polish the blade. Flood gates open below. Cheers, Toby

Thanks, Stephen. I will contact Eric today. Toby

I recently acquired a wakizashi and upon further inspection this morning, I discovered that it appears to have a slight bend and twist in it. Does anyone know of a smith in the Denver area who is qualified to correct this issue? I think Fred Lohman's company could correct this, but I wanted to search for a local smith before I sent it out.

Many thanks, Ford and I apologize for taking the the terminology of stamping out of context. I will check out the link you forwarded so that I can learn more about the different techniques of inscribing mei on tsubas. Cheers, Toby

Thanks for the feedback, Ford. The assessment is a rough estimate (e.g. it's not 300+ yrs old) and is based on shape, style and level of corrosion. As for the the mei being stamped, I would tend to disagree because if you look at parts of the mei, you can see rising edges in some of the marks, which is indicative of being struck by a chissel versus a depression and uneven marking that is indicative of a stamp. The main purpose of this post is to better understand the mei and not to assign a specific period to the tsuba. I am not qualified to assign a definitive period to this piece and made an estimate by comparing the shape and style of the tsuba to tsubas from different period that are published online. Cheers, Toby

I would agree that it is a modern tsuba (late 1800s to 1900s). Here are some more pictures.

I have a large circular tsuba that I am having a bit of trouble identifying the last kanji and my translation doesn't make sense: Here is what I think it is so far: 十六原宗 - ju roku hara mune or is it ju roku genshu? Unfortunately, I do not have a tsuba reference book, so this mei is a bit more difficult for me to understand. Cheers, Toby

Cheers, Grey! I am going to look at the kanji for Yamakichi to see where I made my error in translation. Again, many thanks. Toby -------  山吉 ------- Yep! I see my error. The first kanji threw me off with translating the second kanji.

I have a tsuba from a wakizashi that I am trying to translate and am a bit stuck here and was wondering if I could get some assistance. This looks like an older tsuba and my guess is the lower kanji is yoshi 吉. I don't know, maybe Masayoshi 正吉? That is, of course, if I am looking at this mei upsidedown, in which case I would feel really foolish. Any insight would be greatly appreciated and if there is an error in my method, please let me know. Cheers, Toby

Many thanks, Dr. Stein. I didn't want to take any information from your site without asking. You put a lot of work into it and I respect your research. When the site comes online, I will download some of the pages so that I can continue my research into some of the mei I have. Cheers, Toby

Looks like Dr. Stein's site has been extremely popular because Earthlink just disabled access to his site due to bandwidth issues: http://home.earthlink.net/overquota.html