sbf

More

The Holy Grail of the Japanese militaria world, for me anyway. A Yasukuni Shrine sword, and a Baby Nambu pistol rig, with holster, two magazines serial numbered to the gun, cleaning rod, and cartridges. The Baby Nambu was a very expensive pistol for Japanese officers to buy, just as Yasukuni swords were, and are just as rare. Matching rigs are VERY rare. Took me a long time to attain these.

More

More

A combat veteran in interesting mounts. I believe this sword was originally mounted in early Type 94 mounts. It is signed tachi mei, and the same on the tsuka is set up for tachi mounts. The 1936 date also points to Type 94 mounts as well. I believe the combat saya was added later, when the owner went to war. Looking at the wear on the ring on the saya, someone carried this sword a long way. The mon set on the menuki is a nice touch. I can't find any real info on the smith, the only reference I found was an oshigata in Fuller and Gregory's Guide to Showa swordsmiths. I bought this sword on ebay in its very early days, when it was still America's attic instead of the sleazy version of Amazon it has become. The sword came with the hanger, one of the small seppa was missing so I replaced it. I also had it polished.

The swords look reasonable, I'm sure they will go higher. There is some scarce and desirable headgear, priced within reason. Steve

A beautiful sword in outstanding condition. Thanks for posting it. Steve

Just a heads up, Morphy's has some nice swords and fittings in their May 10 auction. Begin at #3390. I have no idea of the accuracy of the descriptions, but they seem quite detailed.

I have a copy I bought back in the day. A lot of information and beautiful photographs packed into that little book. Steve

Wow. Seeing the diversity of opinions, I don’t feel so bad about being stumped. Now I have further avenues to research. Thanks to all. Steve

Usually I am able to crack these but this one has me stumped. It’s a gunto, has the small Nagoya stamp. The blade appears to have grain, but I think the hamon is faked in. I believe the signature to be either Kanechika, Kanemichi, maybe Kanenao. Any ideas?

One of these in kaigunto mounts just sold on ebay.

Nope, never fired either of them. I live on an island which has become so overdeveloped there is nowhere left to shoot. A far cry from the days when I could step out my back door and commence firing. I don’t worry about it, I had plenty of automatic fire back in the day with M16s and M60s. Never got too into sniper rifles, although I have owned a scoped G43, a K98k with the Zf41, and a K98k high turret that was missing the scope. Sniper rifles are expensive, there is a lot to know about them, and they are a minefield of fakery. I decided I already have enough rabbit holes to go down. Steve

I do have some Japanese arms as well, these are a couple of my Type 94s I happen to have photos of.

I mainly collect firearms, with a focus on the First World War.