John C

Steve: Other things to look for would be the star stamp (he was a decent RJT), and he usually used aqua-green or blue assembly number paint. Sometimes western numbers on one side and Japanese numbers on the other. John C.

Hmmm. Not sure about that signature. He generally did not sign with just "Kanehide". In addition, his signatures were usually well struck and deeper than that example. Also, the way he generally formed "hide" is different. The closest I have to your example is the Sep 1944 example (see pic). But in swords, never say never. I only have about 20 examples of his signature, so other styles may be out there. John C.

Not sure about the sword, however the description is troubling. In the first sentence, he says it is signed Kaneshita (who?) then later says Kanemoto. All of the "rare" elements look pretty standard to me. The bit about the two mekugiana being "extremely rare" and "characteristic of truly old samurai blades" is just salesman speak. Indeed, the second mekugiana looks drilled to me and the nakago does not look like it has been around since 1501, as claimed. The flowery speech, over-the-top exultations about "rareness" and the mislabeling of Kaneshita would send me running. This is just my opinion and I could be wrong. John C.

The auction house is calling this a teppo netsuke, however it does not have the typical ring centered on the bottom like others I have seen. Is this a fake or possibly an actual pocket pistol? https://zentnercollection.com/product/antique-Japanese-teppo-netsuke-2/ John C.

I tend to agree with the majority on this one. Looks like oil quenched that has had an acid augmentation polish to me. At 2100, you could wait for a star stamped gendaito in my opinion. John C.

FYI... It's being resold here for 2,100 USD. https://www.ebay.com/itm/187574346198 John C.

Ludek: 100 percent fake. Looks like the same factory as the one I posted before. Study the following elements and compare to the real thing for training purposes: fuchi stamps are not correct - not even close tsuba is not correct - note the lack of a flattened middle section on the mimi wire tassel loop on the tsuka is not correct screws on the tsuka are not correct tsuka is poorly cast and lacks detail no stamps on the blade/incorrect serial numbers bohi is not the correct shape scabbard latch is wrong shape John C.

E.N. Additionally, you will see a polisher's name on a blade sometimes. Just for added info. John C.

Jeff: The family crest (mon) is a 3-5-3 kiri and one used by many families who could claim association with that particular clan so an exact family name is probably not possible. John C.

Mike: One way to resize and image if you don't want to download 3rd party software is to take a screen shot of just the part of the photo you need. Click on the info icon to check the size. Then go to tools then down to adjust size. If it says something like 114, just change it to something like 74 and it will reduce the size by half. Close out the screenshot to save. John C.

For that price, irrespective of the crack and possible gimei, I would have bought it. These are harder to find than other types of jitte or swords in the US. In that condition, it would go for double that price here. John C.

This area here to me suggests the crack happened after the mei was chiseled in. But what was the date on the papers? Could someone have dropped the blade after the papers were issued that caused the crack? I wouldn't take a chance on it. John C.

Something a little different. An article about teppo disguised as yatate from Daruma magazine. John C.

Danke, Uwe. I'll look him up. John C.

Hello: This one has me stumped. I can't make sense of the kanji as written (looking at list of mei characters). John C.

John: If you are interested in reading a bit about the other side of Rabaul, The Eternal Zero by Hyakuta has some interesting stories about their time there. John C.

John: It's possible, however these type 95 swords were issued to NCOs; officers carried type 98 (like the one John (pnsshogun) showed above). In addition, these would have had leather tassels rather than silk. Do you happen to remember a leather tassel? It's possible an officer was carrying this sword for some reason, but less likely. The brown goo covering the blade is most likely cosmoline used to preserve the blade. John C.

Dated Temmei 6 (1786) perhaps?? John C.

I hope not... John C.

Amie: The folks who do the translations will be along shortly I'm sure, but to get you started ??? [Inaba??] kuni ju Fujiwara Kanemitsu?? I'm not sure of the first part. Fujiwara would be a title and not a first name, BTW. John C.

Jack: Re: your last question, swords did break in battle. And when this happened, it was much quicker to fashion a shorter blade from the broken bit than to forge a brand new sword. In addition, many swords were family heirlooms, or at least treasured by their owners, and fashioning a tanto from a broken blade would be one way to kep the heirloom functional. John C.

Probably not correct, however google translate has the back of the card as: John C.

Sam: One additional bit of information. If the all-brown tassel is original, it's a definite plus and would add a decent amount to the value. John C.

Warwick: The seki stamp would indicate it is a showa-to; meaning, not a traditionally made blade. Its importance may be related to its story rather than it being a special blade. Here is another example of his work for comparison. John C.

George: Personally, I would use a leather shim/seppa if looseness is the issue. As indicated by the pic, the size of the seppa depends on which side needs to be tightened. They also had different edge designs, which is another consideration if you are looking for authenticity. And each nakago-ana is cut to the sword (re: assembly numbers). Real parts are out there, however they usually command premium prices and there is no guarantee they will fit. You might spend a lot of money trying to get just the right one. Just my two cents. John C.