reeder

Nice General Grade sword, Matt. I'm still kicking myself for not buying the last one I saw because I was trying to please my wife and not go over board. -Brandon

I agree with Stu here. If you don't have a sword in your collection or don't study them, I highly suggest it. The most fascinating area, at least for me. It's also the area I know the least about. -Brandon

PM sent. I love guntos as well. I just really like the military mounts for some reason, I know most here hate them but that's okay . I need to find a Katana Kai-Gunto (only will do rayskin scabbard) and wakizashi kai-gunto with traditionally made/gendaito blades in polish, and a set of Kyu-Guntos. -Brandon

I like the big beefy blade you have there. I should be getting another with the fancy handle, no mon, soon. My buddy forgot to bring it last time I saw him. I usually give all the dress swords I pick up to my little sister for some good Karma and to try and get her and her guy friends into collecting blades. -Brandon

What Chris said... Doug at gunto art swords (google search) in Australia has a nice Type 98 officers sword for 1700 AUD (~1520 USD) that has an older traditionally made blade. Here's the link... something to consider. http://www.guntoartswords.com/010500.html It has one flaw in the cutting edge he points out that is covered by the habaki when mounted. I know Chris, Mark, and others usually have good blades for sell. Ed (can't recall his website at the moment and too lazy to pull it up right now, maybe tomorrow) has a lot of nice blades. You might try contacting those fellows and seeing what they have available. -Brandon

As others have told you, army kyu-gunto. I've had a few too many bud's and can't make out the signature but the fellows who have commented know there stuff (far more than I) so listen to what they have to say. How long is the cutting edge? How long is the total blade (not in the mounts)? Great piece to hang on to. I just wish my father and uncle had kept all the swords they were trading in the 60s and 70s but my father always says he didn't know he was going to have a son who was going to be a hoarder. -Brandon

I guess I didn't ask before and not sure if it can be told from my "expert" photography skills (sarcasm emphasized)... What is the approximate estimated age/period of the blade? Thanks for the help in advance. -Brandon

Josh, that is great. I had read Mr Bowen's findings after interviewing RJT smiths, but have not seen this document. Thanks, Brandon

It is a sword I recently purchased. Just showing some pictures and rambling. -brandon

This blade was in a Type 98 I recently purchased. It was this year's Christmas gift from my wife. She got a gas oven and I got a sword, we're both happy. It's a suriage looks like the cut up the blade and shortened. I spent some time looking for a similar nakago, found one other example on a blade in kyu-gunto mounts but not a whole lot of discussion on it. Taking pics of these blades is an art within itself, glares were destroying me no matter what I did with only 2 hands. Cutting edge is 27 3/4". Been trying to sell off some of my lower end stuff, most of my bayonets, and a lot of my knives to pick up a really nice katana. Trying to decide what I want, but I have time to do more research and spend more time drooling over everyone else's blades for now. I'm leaning towards a nice Kai-Gunto in ray-skin scabbard with some sort of traditionally made blade but not sure if want koto, Shinto, shin-Shinto, gendaito... Thanks, Brandon

You guys are nailing it post after post. I get great intangible benefit from collecting all sorts of things, including swords. To justify it to my wife and continue purchasing new pieces, I tell her its a great financial investment and have to show her to continue. There are certain things I buy and sell just to fund the things I want for myself. And when I buy something for myself, I won't buy it if I don't think I'll be able to dump it quick and at minimum get my money back out of it if need be. Mrs. Reeder would put her foot down on this so fast if I was loosing money, without any concern to intangible value. Not only does the financial gain justify my purchasing of the items to her, but it also makes her a little easier about the amount of time and money I spend researching, displaying, searching and buying, listing and selling, going to shows and shops, etc. I guess if I were single or made quite a but more I would be able to consider the intangible value and joy it brings me. I've been trying to clear out a lot of things recently to fund some higher end blades, not necessarily just swords, but a nice sword is one of them, for me a really nice sword is $2500 or less and that's stretching it. Selling quite a bit of things to try and get there. wwii era gendaito may be the limits to my sword collecting for my lifetime, unless I win the lotto or get lucky on a piece here and there. One of the things I've been running into is that people think their showato swords are 600 year old national treasure blades worth $20k+ on a sword that at best may go for $1400 and there's no talking sense into them (I guess that's for another discussion). I do have an emura bare blade I got into decently that is out of polish. Was thinking of saving up for a polish, then realized for what they've been going for I could buy one in full polish already in mounts for quite a bit less than it would cost for a polish and shirasaya. -brandon

I've been a knife guy and been trying to get into Japanese swords, pick some up here and there when it doesn't break the bank, usually what most here consider junk blades (mostly Showato with problems) but I have been slowly learning about them as I get them, enjoy them, sell or trade them and try to learn more to upgrade. I have a few Japanese sword books I've been going through, but I try to look at every sword I come across and talk to local dealers as much as I can. I think swords are harder to get into as there is so much more to learn about them (which I've greatly enjoyed but I don't think I will have near the knowledge base as most here in another 40-50 years) and they are quite more expensive than knives. One can buy & sell pretty nice WWII knives for $50-$500 a blade. Of course there are knives that are much more expensive than that, but the point being it doesn't tie up a lot of funds and a WWII Kabar vs post war Kabar are easy to identify and there are a lot more people collecting knives to sell to when you decide to sell. Also, I feel a lot more comfortable spending $100-$150 on a really nice Kabar or guard marked M3 knowing that I should be able to get my money out of it without much problem if I decide to sell later. I'm in my late 20s and one thing that really scares me about collecting and investing in blades (both knives and swords) is there isn't a whole lot of interest in these things from my generation and younger generations. Sure everyone thinks a real Samurai sword & WWII relics are cool, but they're not spending the money on them. There's some interest in WWII rifles from younger generations because of video games like Call of Duty World at War, but even then mostly $100 Mosins or cheaper Arisakas are being purchased rather than M1 Garands, matching K98s, and some of the other higher dollar rifles. I see little to no interest in collecting blades and it always amazes me that at some of the shows I set up at, I'll offer a decent Kabar to a younger guy that shows interest for $40-$75 depending on what I have in it, am told "let me think about it" and watch them go down 2 tables to spend $25-$40 on a POS Chinese pocket knife because it's tacticool, I just don't get it. I don't take swords to local shows, but some of the other sellers do and I don't think they sell them to anyone but other dealers. Everyone thinks they're cool, picks them up, molests them, but no one buys them other than other dealers here and there. When you see that it's hard to justify dropping that kind of money into swords. Not necessarily related specifically to Nihonto, but collectables in general. I apologize if some of this is mistyped or doesn't make any sense. My keyboard or computer is lagging and getting extremely frustrating typing here. Tried to correct what I caught. -Brandon

First thing I noticed was how bad the flag looked, as I looked at everything else looked just as bad.

I've seen this seller sell a few copper handled NCOs. Recently he's posted a rocking star type 30 bayonet and let it go at auction with no reserve, it is now reposted for the 3rd time. I wonder if this NCO is the same one I saw him sell last year? Would be something to have owned 3 or 4, let alone a single one. A few months ago I was seeing the regular NCOs both iron and brass guard fetching as much as $1200-$1500. Whether or not they were true auctions or shilled in attempt to inflate the market I do not know. Anyways, yes, these copper handled NCOs fetch a premium. Thanks, Brandon

I've never had anything really high dollar to sell on eBay, but if I sell on eBay now I will just put up for buy it now and let it sit. Got tired of giving away my bayonets and kabars. If I really don't care and low value item I'll start auction at $.99 and sometimes get double what I want, other times get half. -Brandon

here's another from that seller. Chinese definitely seem to be getting better at faking this stuff. It still surprises me that eBay puts up with that crap, but I guess when they're paying eBay & PayPal so much in fees from selling it they turn a blind eye? Got ahead of myself and didn't post link http://www.ebay.com/itm/HANDMADE-SAMURA ... 3a86fae9aa -brandon

Thanks, guys. Definitely was not focused while reading this yesterday, got all questions answered in 1st reply. After sleeping on it, think I'm with you on just selling the fittings at the end of the day and buying a nicer rig with a good blade. Thanks, Brandon

blade was beat up pretty bad, sharpened, nicks, etc. guess just wondering if the lacquer or paint on the scabbard is anything not commonly come across or pretty standard. it's one of the first I've seen like that, but then again, I haven't been doing this that long and have quit a lot to learn still. thanks, brandon

Tsuka is lacquered and saya has I don't know what to call it, lacquer, paint, etc I haven't seen before. I want to say that the tsuka has the manu/distributor logos on the kabuto-gane. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Haven't quite decided if I'm going to hang on to this one for a better blade or not. like the fittings so I guess no rush to make a decision. Thanks, Brandon

Strange, when viewing images on this thread from phone, all are correct orientation. When viewing from computer the horizontal have the correct orientation, vertical are rotated. At least we know vertical pics will change orientation on the forums when posting from an iphone. Thanks, Brandon

I usually have to email the pics to myself to reduce size even from the phone. My computer sucks at uploading so usually stick to phone so don't have to wait 12 hours for a small pic to upload. 1st was taken horizontally, 2nd vertically without rotating image on iPhone. Thanks, Brandon

Thank you gentlemen. My buddy thought it was a WWII bayonet flag, I thought it was cool and would look good on the wall. Looks like it's just a flag someone carried during their climb of Mt. Fuji? I apologize about the pic coming out sideways, don't know how to fix that problem uploading from phone, other than not uploading from phones. Thanks, Brandon

Got this from a buddy at last show we did together. Recognize a couple characters but don't know most. Thanks in advance! Forgot to add pic, guess its needed lol. Thanks, Brandon

Thanks, I was wondering how this scabbard ended up on this sword. I hadn't heard about the 2 piles for swords. I've definitely heard that the mauser bolts and rifles were split into 2 different piles and that's why so few of those match. Any idea of time period of scabbard or if those are family crests vs a design? Thanks, Brandon

More pics. Thanks, Brandon