John C

Thank you, Barry. I saw a similar technique used by the lady on "The Repair Shop" series. She just used the bubbles from the soap to clean something delicate. John C.

Hello: Not sure if this is the right place, however I can't read the punched "letter." What would be the best guess for this character on a Kanehide nakago? George Trotter notes "Kanehide does have katakana prefixed and also alphabet prefixed numbers (prob. assy. numbers) on his tangs but always painted". I'm thinking it's the katakana letter "a". What are your thoughts? Thank you, John C.

Hello: I have a tsuka with old mud and dirt on it. While I know cleaning is generally frowned upon, I don't see the need to preserve the mud. I was wondering if anyone has cleaned their tsuka or ito wrap and if so, how? What are the best methods? I believe the ito wrap used to be white. Thank you, John C.

Curious about this one. I have seen these where the flag is gifted to a soldier from a school, for example, and signed by the students. But this one is from a Vice Admiral ( a lot of info on line about him) to a "Mr.", presumably a civilian. I wonder if the other signatures are sailors? John C.

Here is a site that has some examples of acid polishing and fake hamon. http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/acid polishing.html#fake hamon But quickly, ground hamon have fine grind lines and a clear demarcation line; acid etching can leave a "cloudy" appearance, though without nie, nioi, or yo or ashi. John C.

Kyle: Took the liberty of turning it around. Looks similar in style to the other blade you posted. John C.

Alexander: Do you mean real as in water quenched as opposed to oil or real as in quenched and not acid etched or ground in? John C.

Noah: Like I said before, the only regret is not owning the one you wish had bought when you had the chance. I just bought an RJT Kanehide for 1,700 (with shipping). Did I pay too much? Probably, but now I own one and, so far, don't regret it. John C.

Thomas, Bruno, and Chris: Thank you all for the info. I thought it was interesting that the English letter A was used along with Japanese 930 on the mei side and Arabic 930 on the date side. Could they have been using parts (or their bins) from Western manufacturers? John C.

Alexander: If this is a Komonjo blade, it may or may not be genuinely Japanese. I would suggest looking elsewhere to ensure authenticity. John C.

Bruce: I concur. The blade does not have the second mekugi-ana near the base of the nakago, as would be typical with Rinji mounts. In addition, the scabbard is black lacquered wood and the tsuka has only one chuso button. And oddly, the ito was white (now filthy with dirt and mud) and not lacquered. So would it have originally been a type 98 mounting? John C.

Thank you Thomas. Mine uses the green and blue paint. In addition, the blue is written using the letter A with Japanese numbers on the mei side and Arabic numerals on the date side. Malcom Cox has a Kanehide with the same style of blue numbering. So I guess the numbering is valid, at least. John C.

Well, there's your answer. It just got worse with the made-up chicken scratch. No reason to look at it any further. I would pass on all of it. John C.

It seems in some ways these were produced for troops, though as cheaply as possible. The troops may then have engaged in "trench art" to simulate the real thing during down time. But I agree that it would be too much effort for a fake... make a casting and get it over with if you are going to fake it. Just thinking out loud. John C.

Mal: And the star stamp. John C.

Mal: Here are the stamps. John C.

Francois: You are correct! After looking at the sword in detail, the seller used pictures of the actual sword and "augmented" the listing with pictures of the Yakiba sword! Attached are pics of my sword in hand. Everyone please comment on this sword. My feeling is the sword and mei are correct, however what the seller did bothers me. John C.

Francois: I see what you mean. I will try to take close ups of my blade and post them for comparison. But I do not have very good cameras.

More pics of the blade... taken from the auction site. I could not capture any good shots. John C.

Hello everyone: I have some questions about this Kanehide gendaito you all might be able to answer. 1. Do you think the mounts are original to the blade? I ask because there is no makugi-ana near the bottom of the nakago. 2. Why would there be two sets of painted assembly numbers? Is that related to possible changing the koshirae? 3. The blade is star stamped with two small seki stamps (one in the date and one on the mune). The stamps are correct, however, seki and not NA stamp? Is that common? Thank you, John C.

Not sure about the stamps. Ohmura mentions a taisho era "2" works for the arsenal. These marks are 3, 4, Dai, above the Tokyo arsenal mark with two inspector marks below. Not sure what the 4 is in the middle and the Dai looks pretty sloppy. Is there a "Ho" stamp below the serial number on the scabbard? It's hard to tell. Just my observations. John C.

As Matt H. said, I have not seen a dip in the market. I have yet to find a sword at low prices that others say they pay. But that said, remember that any collectable is speculative - may go up our down - based on current interest. So IMHO, pay what you are comfortable with if you really want it. Enjoy it. Stare at it. Study it. I think the only real regret is not owning the one you wish you had bought for your collection. John C.

The real value at this point would be in the leather cover. But to answer the question directly, it probably was not an official gunto. Even family swords purchased at the end of the war by the army had to be at least 21.5 inches in length. John C.

In the second pic, is he using his sandal? The last pic reminds me of the scene in David Bowie's Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence when the sword was being purified prior to an execution. John C.

Did it come with a tsuba (guard) or just what is seen above? John C.