Mister Gunto

Really nice work!

Love those fullers! Very sharp looking.

Wow!

I suspect eBay will take no action. But it'll be interesting to see if they respond or not.

Bruce, very nice job on the restoration.

Welcome! Sorry for the accident, but at least it sounds as if you're looking to turn some good out of it. Cheers!

I've never seen a Mon attached to a late war mounting before. Doesn't mean it couldn't have happened, but it's very unusual.

As said above. Plus, even an Arsenal manufactured "Showato" blade can often still be an solid weapon. It doesn't have the traditional and artistic merits of a Nihonto, but its still a perfectly functional sword that the IJA/IJN sent their troops out to fight the War with. As the number of collectors grows, and the supply remains the same, or lessens due to time and attrition, their value will continue to grow.

Manny, I have a July 1943 dated showato blade in nice Type 98 mounts with the exact same issue. Loose tsuba. Add a couple seppa, the tsuba tightens up, but then the clip doesn't have enough clearance to latch into the scabbard. All the koshirae parts are matching numbered, so either there's been shrinkage in the wood over the past 75 years or so, or possibly the original koshirae has been swapped out. I added a couple blank seppa because the loose tsuba bugged me too much when I handed it. But as mentioned above, unless you're planning on cutting with it (which you really shouldn't) it isn't too much of a problem.

Saya is a late war model with an earlier war-era handle. The gold paint on the kabuto-gane looks like it was put on using model paint. The seppa are badly fitting, the habaki and the tsuba both look....yeah, as mentioned above, pass on this one.

Seconded! A small investment in some books will help you avoid a very costly mistake. Speaking from personal experience here...

Thanks for the explanation. I had thought the inital impact on the back of the blade had caused the surface steel to crack in that odd pattern. I hadn't seen rust like that before.

I'm guilty of that as well. It can be a tough temptation to avoid sometimes.

Did you buy it?

Thanks! This, of course, means eventually I'll need to add an Otsu. Heh, It never ends....

Thanks guys. The seller I bought it from usually deals with US and European 19th Century swords and sabers. He said he'd gotten this one in a lot he'd purchased. He'd initally thought the scabbard was rusted over, until he took a closer look. John, I'm going with it being a pre-1945 applied finish as the color and texture are consistant with a few similarly finished Type 98 scabbards I've seen. I have one special order wooden Type 98 scabbard that is nearly identical, just a little more green hued. So it seems to fit the period. It also shows some wear at the expected spots, like the scabbard throat, the locking pin attachment hole, and bottom of the drag, My understanding is many Type 32 arsenal refurbs were blued, similar to the finish applied to Arisaka rifles. Or just had a coat of black paint slapped on them. There doesn't seem to be a reason to apply a type of finish normally encountered on Type 98's, unless the user was an Officer himself who needed something that looked more like what all his fellow officer's were carrying. But of course, its been 70+ years since then, so I could be wrong. Regardless, I'm really happy with it!

That's it!

A few more photos...

Alternate thread title: "Baby, why you so Ko to me?" I've been wanting to add a Type 32 sword to my collection for a while now. As a former US Army tanker, I really wanted to get a Ko for the Calvary connection. While the shorter Otsu versions appear fairly frequently on the marketplace, I find the Ko's are somewhat less so. And Ko's in nice condition don't seem to turn up much at all. I found this one very recently, and its in very nice condtion. It's in standard Ko configuration with the 32.5 inch Arsenal made blade, checkered wooden grip, leather finger loop and washer. The Scabbard is the correct Ko type and has original matching numbers to the blade. Grip is nice and tight (unlike a lot of former military sabers I've encountered). There is an Arsenal stamping on the guard, as well as what I think are two inspector stamps. I believe that for a Type 32 made in the Showa era, they did not date these, unlike in the Meji and Taisho eras? What makes this one a bit unusual are two things: The serial number is 84984, roughly 1600 digits higher than the highest Ko serial number of 83390 reported in Dawon's book on page 120. I'm guessing that's probably explained by the number reported in the book being more of an "observed" kind of thing, and not from an offical Japanese Military source? The second is the scabbard is coated with a textured finish that I believe is called Ishimeji or Sand finish. (If I'm wrong on that, please correct me). While I've seen Ishimeji applied to Type 98 Officer's sword scabbards, I have never seen it put on a Type 32, or even a Type 95. My understanding is the Type 32 Ko wasn't issued to Officers, only NCO's and Troopers of the Calvary units. With the shortage of swords available to the IJA when they expanded the War in China in 1937, I've heard that many Warrant and Junior Officers had to scramble around to find suitable swords until the supply of Type 98's improved. Would it make sense for an Officer to have obtained this sword, and then paid to have it coated with the Ishimeji finish? That would have the effect of making the sword look more "uniform" to the Type 98's. And also a practical effect of toning down a bright shiny scabbard, espeically if the Officer wasn't in a Calvary unit. Do any of you have (or have seen) other Type 32 scabbards finished in something other than the usual bright, blue/black oxidized, or black paint? Anyway, here's pics!

Nice collection! I especially like those that just cover the grip. That way the sword could be used in an emergency without having to spend time removing the cover. I only have one leather cover right now. Hope to get more eventually.

Sorry, I didn't save it to my watch list. DOH! The rest of the blade actually looked pretty nice. The damage was just confined to this one area.

I went back to check, the auction is down now. Sold or pulled.

I own a few Chinese forged swords from Longquan that I had custom ordered from a different Chinese eBay dealer. They're actually quite well made, in good polish with tight construction and nicely balanced. I enjoy them quite a bit. But the main thing for me was, I knew where the swords were coming from. What they were, and what they weren't. Since first posting this, I took Robert's advice and looked more throught he forum about this dealer. I think I know what I need to know now, so thanks guys.

I see this seller listing a lot of bare blades like this one, supposedly Japanese: https://www.ebay.com/itm/T792-Japanese-Samurai-Sword-Gendaito-Yasuoki-Katana-Blade-71-2-CM/143100680125?hash=item21517717bd:g:XUIAAOSwpJ5cNUK-:rk:16:pf:0 From the prices he gets, and the way the balde looks, I'm guessing these are Chinese made? Or am I off on that? Does anyone have any experience with this seller, good or bad?

Nice! But you know...now you need a new goal...