Bruce Pennington

Ah, yes we've seen that many times over the years! I own 2 NCOs that had been painted gold. Now that you mention it, is that tsuba painted gold, or is that just lighting effect?

It is Mal's theory that both stamps - circled anchor and anchor with chevrons - were used at Tenshozan by the resident naval inspector. As the blades with circled anchor stamps are undated, it is possible they were earlier than the blades with the chevroned anchor. He may correct me on that, but I think that is what he said. It is still possible that Tenshozan had it's own quality inspector using the chevroned anchor simultaneously with the Navy inspector using the circled anchor. The chevroned anchor is specific to Tenshozan, while the circled anchor can be seen elsewhere.

As a result, we now have the anchor in sakura stamps, found on fittings, dirks, and other weapons, that we no longer know their origins. The fact that they are seen with other shop stamps, like Suya and Nakano, tells me they are likely Navy inspector stamps as well. We also see this one, with a coiled rope on the shaft, with the Gunto Sai Saku Jo shop logo: These will be reclassified in the March edition of the Stamps doc as "unknown, possibly Navy Inspector" It is possible that Ohmura and the Fuller chart were correct - that these were stamps inspectors used from the Toyokawa arsenal - but there is just no evidence that support that claim.

Update on the Navy anchor stamp we have all been attributing to the Toyokawa Naval Arsenal. We no longer believe that to be the case, and think it is a generic Navy Inspection stamp, not specific to any arsenal. Thomas - @Kiipu - has been making this point for a few years, but it never caught my attention (chasing too many other rabbits at the time). So, he got Mal - @mecox - to listen and stir the pot. For decades, we have called it the Toyokawa Naval Arsenal stamp because of Ohmura's page and Richard Fuller showed it as such in his books. The chart on page 228 of his '96 edition came from someone or something before his work, and he now agrees with Thomas and Mal. -- The stamp, on swords, only appears on blades made by the Tenshozan factory. They are stainless steel blades made by Tenshozan (some stainless blades were made in Seki, but likely processed by Tenshozan). Two blades made at the Takayama forge have been found with the stamp. -- The circled anchor is also seen on things not associated with Toyokawa, like aircraft and electronics labels. -- No documented evidence could be found showing that Toyokawa was in any way associated with sword manufacturing, or processing, while it has been found for other arsenals like Sasebo, Maizuru, and Yokosuka. Mal is revising his Navy Swords articles, and the Stamps of the Japanese Sword document will carry this revision when it comes out next March. For the record, these are the stamps of the various arsenals. They were hand drawn by the original author and slightly inaccurate, but nothing that significantly impacts our point. The circled anchor is not on the list.

You'll find that the quality of the metal parts can vary, both from vendor to vendor as well as just over the span of the war. Is the saya aluminum?

I hope you didn’t trade anything very valuable. If you did, maybe you can trade it back? The blade is made out of Damascus steel and the serial number on the habaki are classic signs of Chinese fakery.

I only file them if they had a kakihan (kao), so cannot speak to the others, but out of over 50 on file, 11 had no inlay.

Thanks for checking, Paris. Most on file don't either, but one does, so worth checking!

Yeah, you guys a right. I do have a strong tendency to see things that I like looking for. There are a couple of "points" at top and to the right of the corrosion that looks like star points, but after comparing to several actuals, the points are out of proportion to be a star.

I am on my phone and will explain more when I can get to a computer, but I think that is an intentionally obliterated star. We have seen this before. Some people believe the star stamp is just another arsenal stamp and values the sword. Standard officer swords Are valued around $1200, but a star stamped JT blade is worth 1,800-2,000.

Maybe not 'high end' but definitely unique/rare! Navy Diving School dirk!!! On this St. Croix ebay sale. I have never followed the dirks, but I'm quite surprised to see the standards dirks currently for sale in the $800 + USD range! That's double what I paid for mine pre-COVID.

I have a few of his blades on file, and few of them have been re-mounted like this one. Wonder why. Paris, Any dots at the end of the nakago?

Yes, I can see the top horizontal stroke, very faint, now that you point this out!

Wow, John, you called it exactly right on the Suya shop! Rob, Suya Shoten was a quaility shop with a long history. You can read about them on the Nick Komiya thread: The Untold Story of Suya Shoten

Thanks Ben! It's possible it is a gendaito. I don't see any of the telltale dark spots in the hamon, although the sanding job might be obscuring that.