Bruce Pennington

Mr Rim, may I call you Pacific?, (Ha, please go to your settings and give us a real person's name, forum rules), Nice looking gunto, there! I have felt the same thing, in general. Although, you'll find quality variations in all the years of the war, hence the need for arsenal inspectors. So far, though, the lowest quality Japanese work is, for the most part, a cut above the product being put out by the fakers. It's usually noticable in the finer details of the artwork (leaves, petals, etc).

Brandon, I wondered about that idea as well. On a couple of them, the second ashi still has the gold edge paint where the top one doesn’t.

Logan, Please DON’T stop posting. It is how we all hone our knowledge base and skills. Honestly, I haven’t seen one quite like this, myself, and have enjoyed looking it over. My gut would be to call it a fake, but I’ve been wrong on some oddball stuff before. The nakago does look too long, and the kanji work sloppy, but I can’t read them so I don’t even know if they are real or not.

It's interesting that the wear on the top ashi head is greater than on the lower head. The top ones must rub against the belt or something that the lower one doesn't touch.

Latest one from this NMB thread: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/29234-old-blade-or-showa-blade/ On a (likely) older blade, but marked 1935, for test cutting in 98 fittings (94 with missing ashi?)

Neil, Don’t know if you have the time, but I would enjoy seeing examples of all five.

Ohmura only shows three:

Yes, I hope to scout around and find one. Interesting to hear of the variety, but then like all things gunto, every manufacturer had its own variations.

For those who may never have had one of these in hand. I just picked this one up, unfortunately the seller didn't have the screw-on top ring, but it's cool to just have one! The removable collar has a "15" stamped on the underside. Don't see a number anywhere else on it. Thought it was interesting to see the maker had lined the inside with leather. The botton of the hinge joint is so well made that the seam almost doesn't show when all closed up.

This gets worse: a Kanemitsu with a "Okada" hotstamp. PLUS, just came across this on Japaneseswordindex, http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/teruhide.htm, where the same kakihan is used by Ishido Teruhide and Ishido Mitsunobu (same guy?)

Like the housing market - what's good for the seller is bad for the buyer, and vice versa. Falling prices are great for those of us who mostly buy and collect, and are not buyer/sellers. Ha! "Make prices for the buyer great again!"

Updated Stamps Doc 2.0 Includes several hotstamps, the beginnings of a Kakihan collection, a few examples of Buddhist Bonji, and the 4-stamped 95 fuchi above. In collecting the hotstamps, I've discoverd two blades by Kanemitsu, one with a Kaneuji registered trademark and one with kanji that says "Okada" (don't know if that is a personal name or a location). But a new mystery - why would a smith use hotstamps that aren't his own? I thought the whole idea of the hotstamp was to be a personal mark identifying his own work?

Thanks Steve. 50% is an improvement for me, I'm learning! And the July/June was a tired brain mistake. I see the difference now after comparing the two names, thanks.

Marzio, I'm really bad at translations but my take is: Yoshimitsu of Bisu https://www.japaneseswordindex.com/oshigata/yoshmits.jpg No date given, but if I'm right, he was a WWII era smith.

Tom, The real experts will answer for you soon, but I like trying (and am rarely right! though I can read the dates) 1. Toshiharu https://www.japaneseswordindex.com/oshigata/toshharu.jpg dated Mar 1945 2. Kiyotsugu https://www.japaneseswordindex.com/oshigata/kiyotsug.jpg Dated July 1945

Heard a similar comment elsewhere. It does sound like the market has finally peaked and making a correction.

More like $750-1,000, as many prices are 10x today what they were in the ‘70s - Chevy camero $3,700; Dad’s house $20,000; gas .25 cents, in ‘70s prices.

I've come across an old thread about a Kanemitsu blade with a hotstamp. The hotstamp was translated as "Kaneuji registered trade mark". Why would Kanemitsu use a registered trademark of Kaneuji? Are they the same guy? Were they 2 smiths working together? Sorry, but I'm completely illiterate when it comes to smiths and their history.

Ha! I'd swap it for a 1945 Mantetsu! (just kidding, of course! But almost true!)

Concur, exact example on 191,192 of this updated book.

Logan, One of your screws has found a home on my Dad’s Mantetsu! Good fit. I had to turn it with pliers due to the stripped screwdriver notch, but it worked, thanks! Chuck, PM me with a mailing address and I’ll get the other one to you. You’ll have to use pliers, like I did, as the screwdriver notch on the other one is shot too.

Chris, you pic is pretty dark, but it looks like it had a black base-coat with green over it? If so, it adds confimation of the black on all these, with topcoating of green.

Steve, Now I REALLY regret stripping my version 3!!! Crap! Looks like it's wartime paint, just don't know who might have done it. It's just so freaking ugly that it's hard to believe a professional did it, yet they are so identical, now all 3, that I can't see it as random soldier DIY jobs. As I recall, on the gold, there was gold colored saya glinting in the sun at the emperor's coronation, but that was in 1926, well before the Type 95 was invented. I don't recall a birthday celebration discussed. Here's the serial number, matching:

Another collector bought a late war 95 with mottled green paint on the saya with a black-painted drag. Which was a surprise, as the green paint exactly matched the paint job on a version 3 95 I had picked up a couple of years ago. Assuming it to be a really bad Bubba-job, I stripped it down. Luckily, there was original base paint still there. But it bugs me that these two Bubba-jobs are so alike. The other member's saya even shows that the black was laid first and the green overtop. The similarity causes me to wonder if it could have been a wartime laymans job rather than post-war. Also, the paint looks old with lots of wear, gouges, etc on both (the gold paint on my late war didn't look old, nor did the black on the drag). One obvious possibility is that both gunto were, at some time, in the hands of the same Bubba. That seems the most likley answer, but I put this out there for your input. Early in my collecting, I went throught the same issue over gold-painted gunto, after finding at least 6 of them over time. I've since decided they were all post-war (theater groups painted swords for their plays, among other reasons). But the identical-ness of these two made me wonder. {added note:After reviewing this, I realized that all 3 gunto were Nagoya made, Hmmmm....} Thoughts? The late war, owned by another collector: My version 3: My late war, painted gold, but similar black drag:

A first for me - an Incheon Army Arsenal "Jin" stamp on a Tokyo Arsenal Type 95!