Conway S

Luh, A lot of great information about Masahiro can be found in this article. If possible, could you post more photos of the rest of the sword? @Jcstroud take a look. Conway

@Bruce Pennington Subassembly number 66. Conway https://www.ima-usa....rd-matched-number-66

I saw this Mitsunaga souvenir that sold yesterday with painted subassembly number 二五. Does anyone know the length of the nakago on these? I saw the one Bruce posted earlier was also not shortened. Conway

I agree with that. I fell under the Showa22 spell for a moment as I didn't look closely at the second character before my initial post. I am aware the seller lists some questionable pieces with mis-matched koshirae and polishing half measures... They did have a General's grade Type 19 parade sword that looked very tempting recently. But my suspicion is always high when sellers take pictures from 3 feet away. Conway

Thanks for the replies. The fuchi is my biggest concern given the crudeness of the stampings, especially the star. See link below. This seller once sold a Type 95 with a chrome plated saya! Too bad the listing is no longer available. I think it sold for $400+. Conway https://www.ebay.com/itm/335018236514?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D777008%26algo%3DPERSONAL.TOPIC%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20221115143614%26meid%3D3ba0606ed55f4389a8974365969bc310%26pid%3D101616%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26sd%3D235185763278%26itm%3D335018236514%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D4375194%26algv%3DRecentlyViewedItemsV2SignedOut&_trksid=p4375194.c101616.m5481&_trkparms=parentrq%3A74c20e5518a0a8cdcc779906ffffb4d0|pageci%3Aefe563b4-4e42-11ee-b2ef-9e9091001ca2|iid%3A1|vlpname%3Avlp_homepage

You're right, Mark. It's 高正. Looks like he was a Seki smith. I also saw the seller previously had this exact listing and write up on eBay as Takamasa. Conway

I found this "interesting" sword today for sale by Showa22. I have not yet seen a sword with only 高山 on the nakago. It is unclear what stamp if any is located above the date on the reverse side since the photos are taken from outer space. This does not look like a 高山刀 given the kissaki shape. Any thoughts as to whether the signature is fake? I am not aware of anyone signing as Takayama. Thanks. Conway https://www.ebay.com...er=artemis&media=SMS

Found this late Suya example with serial 155,437. It has a brass tsuba instead of iron. As you can see from the pictures the Suya and Tokyo First Arsenal stamps on the fuchi are very faint. It does give me some pause because the seller is also selling two other fake NCO swords at the moment... If it is fake they picked a good serial number to use. Interested to hear others' thoughts. Thanks. Conway

@Jcstroud Measuring from the nakago-jiri to the mune/ha-machi is 9 inches on the dot. Only signs of green paint are on the habaki. Not sure if it was intentional or not. Conway

Only looking at the sword without consideration to the mounts, would the absence of togishi on the mei lend itself to being late war production knowing that Masahiro and Masanao Takayama-to usually have the polisher listed? Conway

Here is another souvenir from Griffin Militaria. This is the only full shot of the nakago. If the nakago-jiri is shortened they didn't square it off which I why I wanted to point it out. See link for more pictures. Conway https://griffinmilit...cer-kai-gunto-sword/

Thomas, Does Kiyohira refer to a name or is it a description of the sword? I could not figure out a good definition given the context. Conway

Here is the second. To my eye it is the long Takayama-to mei including the polisher. Starting with third character down looks like 高山刀。The pictures are very small on Live Auctioneers so I cannot get a larger picture that is more clear. Conway

Found two interesting swords that sold a very long time ago on Live Auctioneers. Unfortunately there is only one photo available for the first. If it's hard to read, the tag looks like it says 高山清平. Conway

Here is a small encircled 力 on the drag of a Type 19 parade sword. Conway

Thomas, Here is another one I found recently on eBay. Tang and fittings all marked 941. https://www.ebay.com/itm/364162669768 Conway

@Bruce Pennington Check out page 30 left hand side of the pdf shown above. There is a Hattori Masahiro mei without the polisher reference. I assume the sword in souvenir fittings I am referencing is a Hattori Masahiro sword. It has the Takayama-to short & thick kissaki. ***I don't want to take this great thread on arsenal stamps on too much of a diversion... Let me know if there is a more appropriate thread to move this discussion to. Thanks. Conway

I just noticed the painted character on the Takayama Masahiro posted in the NLF thread resembles the "I" 伊 in Inaba. Conway

@Bruce Pennington It's the Inaba sword I posted in the Arsenal Stamps thread. I found it for sale online. I was just wondering if this set up would be considered late war because similar material is found on the souvenir swords. From the discussion above I see that it is not necessarily late war. Here is another close up of the same sword. Conway

What you are saying makes sense! Alas, I don't need any more swords. I am running out of places to display my ever-expanding collection. I was hoping someone would talk me out of it and not encourage me. The broken semegane bothers me on this one. But I guess it could always be replaced. I appreciate your input. Conway

@Jcstroud John, It's for sale online so I am not sure of the length. What do you make of the anchor which looks like it may have been filed down? Is it possible this sword was made during the war and then altered for the souvenir sword program? I found another sword with the same signature with uncut tang. The fittings look pieced together. https://www.bradford...-to-sword_D854E11B44 Conway

Yes - Kai Guntō fittings. It has a quite shrunken leather-covered wood saya. I posted a picture of the tsuka in the "Kai Gunto Tsuka Question" thread. Overall, the hardware is not in the best shape. Conway

Greetings, Can anyone clarify if the black fabric same found on souvenir swords was also used on wartime production swords? And if so, when does this variation appear? I am referring to the sword pictured below, which is the Inaba sword I posted in the Arsenal Stamps thread. Thanks. Conway