Turbo storm

Awww dang. My two favorite redneck items. Beanie babies look so good with my NASCAR legends collector plates. So will this show still center upon Japanese swords, etc with a side helping of other militaria?

Then to put this issue to rest, take off the handle and the habaki, and show some pics of the tang.

The hamon looks acid etched.

As for the large # of bids. From what I have found is that a seller will establish new usernames, and bid on his own item to drive the price up. The point is to make people think there is something special about this item, and entice an impulse buy. If no one takes the bait, the seller relists the item as a non paying buyer. E-bay suspends the fake non paying buyer, and the seller continues the fishing contest. Think of it as remote controlled fish (under your control) nipping at your bait. Eventually you may get a real fish swim by, see the other fake fish nipping at the bait, and take it for himself. Bad day for poor fishy. Don't be that fish!

Well I guess I'll be #3 for the paint mark story. I've been told the same thing, just markings to keep the same set together. For WWII blade such as this, Fuller & Gregory: Swordsmiths of Japan: 1926 - 1945 or "Military Swords of Japan" is a good resource for information. I can post more info on this and other good WWII blade books later this evening. The "acceptance stamp" you see is identified as a Seki stamp. Fairly common as is the showa stamp.

The starburst mon looks like the police or civil service mon affixed to parade sabers used before and during WWII.