PeterCollector

Franco D - thank you for your advice, l exactly know what are you saing and understand that. Sword was not expensive at all, but futhwr investment just can not be considered as reasonable. David Flyn - yes, false signature is also the option for this sword. But signature looks descent.

Here are some additonal photos of blade tang and other parts. Peter

Hello dear friends, I just want to share with you my latest purchase in UK and also ask for your opinion about this sword. Sword which you si is in absolutely untouched state, nobody took it appart from the war and I was for sure the first. Gunto fittings are very nice and in perfect quality. Each part of the koshiare - is marked by matching numbers. Tsuba is pierced style and menuki is also unique. On the pommel is damaged samurai mon - damage was done probably by the sword former owner. Habaki is thick silver type. Blate tank was shortened to fit into gunto fittings and has three mounting holes. Tang is signet by well known smith Kunisuke. Blade is quite short if I compare it to the handle and scabbard. Sword in its scabbard is extremely long and heavy. Now the bad part, blade is not in best condition, it has scratches and old micro pits from corrosion. Hamon is visible, but I can not take a picture of it Blade has no bends, hits or nicks and is very sharp. And the final question is, what do you think about this sword? Do you think it is worth of polishing? Or keep it as it is. And what about itsh koshiare, why it is so long if it is compared to blade? I am looking forward to your opinions and advices. Thank you in advance Peter

Hello, thank you for all your comments and help with that markings on scabard hangers. I dont have skilled hands and l am really afraid of damaging the sword. I rather left it as is. What l know from the seller, blade tang is unsigned and have two mounting holes and was cut fown to fit into gunto fittings. Maybe l ask for a picture of tang if he have it in his archive. But blade is quite slim and light, if l compare it to other swords. Kind regards Peter

Hello dear friends, few months ago I bought quite nice officer sword in full mint condition. Sword has very nice details and finish to all fittings. There is also silver family mon on pommmel. Tsuba is pierced and blade is also very nice with silver foiled habaki. I am sorry, but I can not remove the handle and I don´t want to damage the sword. What made me very curious on this sword is its markings on scabbard loop - it is different from others scabbard loops which I have and also there is serial number? on it and also other markings. Please can anybody help me identifiing them ? I hope you like the sword. Thank you in advance for all your help. Kind regards Peter

Here are few closeup photos of the blade, I hope you like it. Kind regards Peter

Hello, dear fellow collectors, I just want to share my latest sword made my Mantetsu. What is really nice is that whole sword is numbered "6" or "9" - on each of its part. Blade is in full mint condition, marked two times with "w" charakter, one time "6" on the back and below ith is also marked with bad punch "6". Please can you help me with exact datation of the sword? There is also little marking on pommel. It looks like sword was made with set of only four seppa, but everything holds tight without any movings. The sword is in state in which I bought it, I did not polished it, on ly cleaned it with piece of cloth. I hope you like the sword and if you see any red flags, please tell me, but I hope there is nothing to worry about the sword. Kind regards Peter

I am sorry about that, but l can not move habaki, it is frozen to blade I also did not see any M stamp.

Hello Bruce, yes, I just looked under the tsuba and seppa and found one. It is well know SEKI stamp... so no traditionaly made sword, but I think still a nice artifact. Peter

xiayang, thank you very much for translation of inscription on my sword. Best regards Peter

Hello dear friends, I just want to post my Mantetsu sword. This sword comes from United Kingdom and was not stored properly, so some rust and dirt acumulate on blade, but in other hands it is untouched and uncleaned. Leather on scabbard is shrunk. I hope you will like the sword despite its condition. There is probaly also some kind of markings on pommel. Sorry for photos of blade tang, but it was not rotated by me So feel free to download them and rotate to proper position. Best regards Peter

Hello, dear friends, here are few photos of gunto sword which I bought. Whole sword is intact and never been appart since the war. It is shame, but I am still lost with idintification with markings on the blade. Please, can you help me with translating text on both sides on blade tang? I did not find any other markings on sword or on its parts. Good think is, that sword has its original hanger and tassel, which belongs to this piece and were not put together after war. Thank you for your time and help. Kind regards Peter

Hello friends, thank you for your comments and help. Burce, thank you, I did not know that serial number is KU 947 - this infomration also help me a lot. Right now we have very bad weather, so I did not have time to do good pictures of whole sword, but here is just quick photo of signature. I think there is also another signature at pommel, but have to look on lthem later. Kind regards Peter

Hi, thank you very much for quick reply and translation of blade production! Best regards Peter

Hello, few weeks ago I was very lucky to find untouched sword made by Mantetsu company. Please can anybody help me, when the sword was made? I try to study all the Mantetsu thread on forum and learn a lot, but I can´t still be sure about the exact year and month of production. The blade was very dirty and i just cleaned it with piece of cloth and oil - also the tang has a rust spots, so I just oiled them. Sorry for bad photos, later when I took some care about the sword - just clean dust and old dirt, I try to do much better pictures of whole sword into correct thread. Many thanks for your time and help. Best regards Peter

Marco, thank you for your message. No, you are not stealing thread - l want exactly discussion like that. Your opinion is always welcome and l like it. Petet

Hello My friends, thanky you all for your mesages. I didn't know that Mr. Hornak is not official polisher. I know that he was trained in Japan and is still polishing swords there every year. So my ffirst opinions were, that he is good option for this sword - it is wartime produced piece, not a high end old work. And that is also why l want to share all the work which will be done with you. Bruno, thank you for all your messages. When l contacted Mr. Hornak, he told me at the beginning, if he can find me good polisher in Japan, or if l want to do the polish by him directly. I told him that if he can do that, he can polish sword directly. Then he told me that he need to discuss blade with his master too. Anyway, please let me know if you think sword can be seriously damaged, or there is an option that blade can be destroyed. Then l rather decide for someone else, or wait a while with work. Best regards Peter

Hello, dear friends, I want to say big thank you to all members of forum, which help me with identiffing my latest sword. In this thread I decided to post better and sharp photos of this certainly interesting sword. I made a decision to polish sword and buy a shirasaya for it. Papering right now is not possible because of situation in Eurobe and ban on all shipping between Japan and European Union. For polishing I contacted Mr. Martin Hornak, polisher who lives very close to me in Slovakia. Right now is Mr. Hornak in Japan, but he promised me, when he returned home he will polish the sword, so work can be done in summer. When the polishing starts, I will provide you with photos and progress of his work in this thread. I hope you will like photos of sword. Any advice with restoring the sword and advice where I can order shirasaya for sword in Europe are welcome. Thank you Best regards Peter

Hello friends, thank you for all your help. It is nice to hear, that you like the sword and you think it deserve some special care. First I have to count all my money and decide if I can afford to polish it - I mean if the sword is really hard to find and it has some value - bigger than the polishing cost I will do that. Stephen, I will try to do my best and clean the blade tang carefully but for sure I have to clean up saya it is a lot of dirt in it. I also try to take better pictures tommorow and share them in gunto section. Again many, many thanks to you all for help. Peter

Hello, thank you for your help with identifiing sword. Like you can see - sword saw a lot of usage during the war and blade have some oil spots and litle scratches - it is nothing serious, there are no hits on blade or any other flaw. But blade is grey and no hamon is visible. Do you think this sword deserve to be polished? I mean if l can invest some money into it? Or it deserve to be papered? Thank you Best regards Peter

Hello dear friends, few days I bought this poor conditioned officer sword which was not storaged very well. Despite these fact, sword is still nice. Very carefully I removed wooden grip and find markings on both sides of blade tang. I know there is a lot of rust, but I do not decide to clean it, because I don´t want to damage it. Please can anybody help me with translating the markings - I mean blade smith or maybe date, when it was produced. Each part of sword have same number "87" and one seppa is missing - but when I carefully inspect the sword, l think, it was never on sword, or was lost very, very long time ago, because sword fits tight and very well and patination on tsuba is just around other seppas. Mon on pommel is also missing Thank you for your time and help Kind regards Peter, Slovakia

Bruce, Bencld: Thank you for your help! Best regards Peter

Hello Bruce, thank you for your reply. I made few photos of blade and tried my best, but we had very cloudy sky, so the light was not ideal. I hope you can see important details from picutres. Please, are there any more additional information about the swordsmith which are not mentioned in previous Mori Kunitoshi thread? Thank you for your time and help. Best regards Peter

Hi Bruce, thank you very much for your information. I also have one sword, which was attic find and have painted numbers on blade tang and there are no numbers on other fittings, grip or scabbard. Sword fit perfectly to fittings and l do not see any postwar work on each seppa or tsuba, so l think whole set belongs together. I even scaned each detail of sepa on USB microscope for matching patina. So maybe all parts belongs together despite the missmatch number. Bruce do you think the sword can be gendaito? Or it is normal common sword. l can post more pictures if needed. Again thanks for you time and help. Best regards Peter

Hello Ray, thank you for your time and help! Best regards Peter