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Bruce Pennington

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Everything posted by Bruce Pennington

  1. Bruce Pennington
    That's all out of my league, but enjoying the conversation! And I hadn't noticed such stamps on 32s before, so glad you've brought it up. It's interesting to see the broad variation in stamping as Japan adopted western styled swords, initially, and how it narrowed down considerably as the military started standardizing things during WWII.
  2. Bruce Pennington
    How did you come across this sword, Sam, if you don't mind sharing?
  3. Bruce Pennington
    For simpletons like me, and BTW thanks for all the links above, guys!!!, I go to Japaneseswordindex.com Seki Smith List and scan down the page looking for kanji that match the mei. There is also the list of kanji used in names Brian posted on the Home page of NMB:
  4. Bruce Pennington
    These are the only photos I have, so hard to say. Looking at the enlarged one below, I'd say it was just illusion from the photo angle.
  5. Bruce Pennington
    Thanks John & Mal!
  6. Bruce Pennington
    Hard to say. Yours is quite unique, and a bit unknown, but these sort of things generally run in the mid $500's to $800'ish.
  7. Bruce Pennington
    Mal has a write-up on him in his article he posted above. Working from memory, there was an Inaba Forge in Seki city, so we don't know for sure if the mei is a smith going by Inaba or if it's a forge mei, or both.
  8. Bruce Pennington
    Wow, Sam, that is unique! What a steal. I don't have my books with me, is that Field grade or General officer backstrap?
  9. Bruce Pennington
    Enhanced the photos a bit: Here's one from Sesko: I checked my other files on him, and I agree, his mei changed a bit over time. Not as much variation in his kakaihan, but I did find one that dipped below the line, not quite as dramatic as this, but below all the same. Hard to say, but I don't see a definitive reason to suspect this as gimei. However I'm no expert in mei.
  10. Bruce Pennington
    Yeah, good question.
  11. Bruce Pennington
    Posting more photos for later when the link goes dead. Seller got the date wrong, it's July 1944. I have another of his, same date, same fittings, but different painted numbers. Both have the light tan, steel saya, but double chuso release buttons.
  12. Bruce Pennington
    Steve, Are you sure this is on a Japanese blade?
  13. Bruce Pennington
    Here's a useful care guide: Japanese Sword Care Guide - Japaneseswordindex.com You can check your saya (scabbard) with a magnet, but I agree, it looks aluminum. Not rare, but not common either. What is common with them, though, is the missing paint. They gave up on the aluminum saya as the paint wouldn't hold.
  14. Bruce Pennington
    I noticed how straight it was with very little sori.
  15. Bruce Pennington
    Mal Cox covered them in one of his documents:
  16. Bruce Pennington
    Auction with a reserve price of $700. The blade alone could sell for $500 then the saya (scabbard) would sell alone for $150-200.
  17. Bruce Pennington
    The whole rig appears to be late war. Very common to see painted wood rather than rayskin or even fabric in these.
  18. Bruce Pennington
    John, just curious why you thought the bend happened in shipping. Did the seller say there was no bend originally? If it was in the saya, I don't see how that bend could have happened. I have read quite a few reports, and complaints, that the western swords (and some later Japanese) bent during use in the field.
  19. Bruce Pennington
    I only have 4 of his on file, and one is a bad gimei. There is enough variation in each to make it difficult to compare this one with the rest. The only distinctive point I see on this one is the kakihan (enscribed kao). It has a 'bottom' on the 'B' AND an underscore, whereas all the others on file use the underscore to 'finish' the "B". I don't see anything obvious on the mei. Example:
  20. Bruce Pennington
    Couple of guys named on this thread that rewrap tsuka:
  21. Bruce Pennington
    Thanks guys! I'd say he's happy with David's idea. He doesn't know anything about swords and is just happy to know it's old. It was in leather saya, but the tsuka was reduced to same' only, no metal fittings, no ito. So, I'm walking him through ideas on how to retro-fit the tsuka to something he would like.
  22. Bruce Pennington
    Answered via PM
  23. Bruce Pennington
    Google translate works for me: Google Translate
  24. Bruce Pennington
    Thanks David! I'll pass that along.
  25. Bruce Pennington
    Lots of great stuff there! Here's the kai, mentioned:
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