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Bruce/Chris - Markus shared these swords on FB, and I thought both of these swords are good, albeit one of them probably cleaned at some point. It is interesting though, because half the folks that commented on his post said they were fake (!!!!) ... so I recommended he post here to get opinions from you, shamsy, and everyone else Cheers, Dan

I am in agreement shamsy! …. Before I read the actual post I saw that scabbard color in the photo and had some initial “dark thoughts” (lol) …. My well used copper has a darker patina and like most Sayas’ of this variant, a bit of wear and patina which give it a darker and “worn” appearance that I prefer. It’s a beauty for sure! - but not for me.

Gents , I haven’t been on here in a while other than to look at some NCO chats, so I don’t know If this article from Facebook has been shared, but I felt it a compelling post that I wanted to share. I did a glance and didn’t see this posted elsewhere , but hopefully admin can delete if I have it wrong. Below is excerpt from Matthew Brice’s post: Copper Handle NCO Sword from the Plimpton Collection …( I believe being offered by St Croix blades, if I read the Facebook article posted by Matthew Brice correctly. ) The Japanese copper handle NCO sword photographed for John Plimpton's book Swords of the Emperor - A Guide to the Identification of Imperial Japanese Swords, 1873 – 1945. The sword and scabbard/saya have the matching serial number '871'. CONDITION: This Plimpton Collection sword is nearly mint. I hope everyone is well - cheers, Dan

IMO - that’s too much money to pay for a mismatch ( in the states ) , I’m not sure that the European market holds for NCOs, but I acknowledge that militaria prices generally run higher in Europe ., based on other items I track.

I'd be curious if there are any bid withdrawals - it's easy to do.

Hey Rob - now this one looks crappy (Fuchi, handle, etc...) to me, not the quality fake in my eyes, compared to the more recent posts.

Gents - just a quick data point as I returned from my 4 day trip to the Show of Shows in Kentucky (largest Militaria show). This was the first show that included the international dealer/collector community since pre-COVID, and it was very crowded! Lots of Japanese WW2 swords to be discovered. I was focusing on my "helmet" portion of my hobby so I only handled the NCO swords (easier to look at them for condition and quality then officer swords or Nihonto blades). I was pleased that of the NCO swords I saw or handled, all seemed very genuine ... almost all what I would consider in average condition (not poor condition, but definitely not mint). Attached is a good representative sword from show - to include price trends. I did not see one listed below 1,000 USD. I saw that most if not all were sold by last day. I did NOT see any copper NCO swords (I personally have only seen one copper at a major show since 2018). cheers - Dan

Gents ... I know, I know ...I've been off in German dagger land for a while, but still stick around to learn and follow trends :). On this particular sword, if it's a fake - it's pretty darn good (my humble opinion) ... but, Tristan & Steve - what are your thoughts on the Kokura stamp? Does it seem solid to you? Regards, Dan

Good intuition Chris . .. so if you collect Japanese firearms you are familiar with the Tokyo arsenal stamps on the Nambu's. A good tokyo arsenal stamp is similar in appearance on an NCO sword. If you do a comparison to this arsenal stamp, the difference kind of jumps out (to me, anyway :). ... as a starting point. The numerical fonts are also off the mark. Dan

Catching up on posts ... the quality of the fakes are just getting better and better ... ! Dan

Totally agree Brian, and Grey makes a superb point on the saya! To clarify a point I was making above on removal of cosmoline from surplus weapons, I have found the safest and most thorough way to get it fully removed is heat, but specifically extremely hot (boiling) water in a large pot. I remove the wooden stock from rifles, and I place all parts in boiling water for a few minutes, and one can see the cosmoline simply melt off and fall into the water (and stink up your residence to high heavens!!)... It is very odd looking to put a large cauldron size pot on the stove, and have a long rifle barrel dangling half way out of the pot, but since metal conveys heat, it just works, and it's the best way to get the cosmoline out of the "nooks and crannies" of the finer metal parts (Note: machine made gun parts, and NOT polished blades of any type construction . HOWEVER, boiling the parts, wiping off access, drying each part, re-assembling and properly oiling a rifle ... one can end up with a nice metal finish but still a ROUGH LOOKING STOCK where the cosmoline has spill over into the wood and permanently penetrated. There is nothing that can be done about that. Machine made Swords - I've learned long ago from more experienced collectors on here (Shamsy, Bruce, etc ) that on a Type 95 NCO (for example) there is no need to remove the saya and if the screw looks tampered with ... it's something that is worth noticing with caution as a collector. If I had an aluminum saya NCO sword with original paint remaining on it and cosmoline on the blade, then in my opinion- the only recourse is to remove the cosmoline by hand from the blade (much wiping and a box of rags) and I would totally leave the saya alone. I would do the same for later issue (wooden says) because I personally don't want to impact patinas nor run into challenges of re-assembly issues to get it back to the original state (as some late - war Type 95s were assembled crudely).

Hey Kaz - I responded to your note to me, I call cosmoline the "Devil's Vasoline" .... there are so many better products out there in today's modern age. I have never applied it to anything. As stated, - if you just want to experiment , I totally agree with Bruce and others and get a junker. Better yet, ask Samurai Monkey for one of his junker swords on Ebay (lol). Seriously though - I have worked with Cosmoline A LOT on surplus weapons because I have had to remove it from about 20 plus surplus firearms, and I have removed it from two Type 95s. Upon removing, I have observed NO damage to the rifles, not even to the bluing ...when I removed the cosmoline, and I find the safest way to remove it is with HEAT. The type 95s I removed it from where already in rough shape. I my opinion, you can't remove cosmoline with heat on a 95 sword with aluminum handle (that has paint remaining) ...you will further degrade the handle if you do. It's just too risky. Dan

Fuzzy … Asking for clear photos of stamps and serial numbers is a reasonable request for a treasonable chance to sell / Dan

I see a lot of NCO swords popping up on Facebook militaria forums and folks tell the owner to examine tang for signatures .... !! Goodness . (Nice copper BTW!)

Cal - I have reached out to Michael Bortner in the past regarding flag info (translations, authentications, etc) and he is most personable and helpful. He has his own website if you google his name. Photo of his book cover attached - Regards, Dan