drac2k

Thanks for the information.

I did a little research on this quiver and I believe that it bears the mon of the Jinb-o Clan whose leader( Jinb-o Nagamoto) was a Daimyo of the Eitchu Provence in the 16th Century. The clan was engaged in numerous battles and cease to be of prominence in the 17th century. I know that it is missing the cover and it needs some restoration, but how old is this item? Can it be restored and by whom and is worth doing so.

Are these Japanese kanji or just wishful thinking on my part ?

Geraint, here are close ups of the blades ;notice that the Type 19 Cavalry sword has a chemical etch. I don't think that either sword has a mekugi, but rather the tank goes all of the way through and it is held on by a nut, etc.. Since the forum members participating in this thread were so knowledgeable in Japanese characters, I threw in this naval landing sword that after all of these years I just noticed what I believe to be some items crudely inscribed underneath ;any ideas as to their meaning?

Thanks for the info !

Looks like its twin brother; is that a mark on my habaki or is it my imagination ?

Usually we novices try to make the forum do all of the work, but in this case I tried to do some of the preliminary work and ask for help where I got bogged down. The top sword I believe to be a Japanese Army Officer's M-1886 Parade Sword marked with the Kaga Family Mon ; how far off am I ? The second sword I believe to be a Police Sword, pre-1945 for Civilian Mounted Police ; It has one definite marking on the blade(need help), and maybe another on the habaki (possibly Dai or Tai).How far off am I ?

Very cool example of a modified type 95 sword; this is only the second one that I have seen. While I'm sure that the swords were end of the war or post war modifications, I feel that the converted bits of swords and bayonets made into knives were for actual fighting; as in WW1 & WW2 there was a shortage of combat knives and many non-standard types were made in machine shops on the home front to the shipboard shops in the War theatre, some of excellent quality, others little better than prison shivs. The plexiglass & aluminum washers were often from downed planes; I can remember such a knife carried throughout the war by a service member where the handle was constructed from the parts of a kamikaze plane that crashed into his vessel.

Whew, that is a relief; I thought that was what you meant, but I wasn't positive.......funny where the mind wanders

Peter, when you say that "it could legally go back to Japan," are you talking about for polishing, for confiscation, or something else ? The blade to the top of the tsuba measures 27" and the tang from the guard to the the top of the brass pommel is 6".

The engraving is deep, it looks old ,i.e. the corrosion and the and pitting are on top of the engraving instead of underneath of it, however even if it was done after the war ,75 years of misuse and storage can make it look like 100s of years old. I was wondering about the quality and the style of the engraving which would indicate whether it was done prior to WW2.

What could be a clue would be the thread pattern(beyond my capabilities), for the pommel ;i.e. standard coarse thread, British parallel threads, or what ever the Japanese used. If the blade has Japanese threads than maybe it was a Kyu-Gunto. I have another question as well; I have seen post war engraved blades(usually tantos), done by Japanese sold to US servicemen and so I was wondering is the engraving on my blade pre-war or post war?

Wow, that is amazing (and sad), to think that a sword from the 1600's could have a 20th century handle! The sword did not come with a scabbard. The Kyu Gunto theory is interesting, but since it has the army mounts on it ,they probably are original to the sword.

That is interesting; if you can, I would like to see a picture of it.

the complete sword

Another picture

I hope that the Forum doesn't kick me out for showing a Japanese Katana so badly disfigured, but I thought since you guys see such beautiful swords all of the time, maybe for a change you might enjoy seeing an oddity. As I mentioned before, I enjoy collecting a variety of different swords and knives, including WW1 & WW2 Theater Made Fighting Knives. This is the first sword that I have found with the typical U.S. plexiglass & alternating aluminum washer configuration with a heavy brass pommel; so heavy as to act as counterweight and to give this sword a sense of balance. Please , no death threats, LOL.

Wow, I had no idea of their value; I guess I was stuck in a time warp in 1980,LOL.

Thanks

Thanks for the information gentlemen; I think that you guys have given me enough information to make a ball park guess. I tried ebay, but there are so many Chinese fakes on there that I couldn't make a realistic assessment. Sorry about having this in the wrong section as I'm still learning my way around here, lol.

Wow, I hope you bought a lottery ticket as well; what a find! If I saw these swords at a show, I would pay the $200.00 and happily dance away(and I don't dance), however he is a friend and it wouldn't fell right to take advantage of them. My guess is that they are worth between $500.00 to $650.00 each.

As a new member I can not tell you how excited I am to be making my first post! Even though I collect Japanese Swords(as well as others), I am a total amateur and I usually collect on instinct rather than knowledge ,which at times has proven costly. Recently a friend's wife has contacted me and offered the 2 above swords(not a divorce, but the husband isn't doing so well); I could have bought them for $100.00 each, but I knew that would be thievery. My question to the forum would be "what would be a fair price for each of them,"(one is a side catch), so that I can offer her a fair amount and if it is more than I want to spend, at least I can give her a price to go on so that she will not be cheated.