Hi everyone, was recommended to come here for more information on the sword I have! I'll just copy paste the message I posted on the r/SWORDS subreddit:
https://imgur.com/a/JUBwsjC
"Recently came into possession of this Katana, the condition of the blade was already as is before I was the new owner of it, seller is a very reputable auctioneer in my city so very little doubt of it being fake but you never know, and I'm no expert on this. There were no documents with the blade but it has been with a family here for a very long time until heritage issues forced them to auction it off.
The auctioneer only worked on the previous family's words, and they said it was believed to be from somewhere around 1700-1800s.
Forgive me if the photos are bad, I can retake some if needed, but this was the best I could do with my iPhone.
Also one thing that bothers me about it is the mekugi, the size of it is the same on both sides so I am unsure on how to get it out so I can check the signature of the blade below.
Appreciate any help you guys are able to give, I think the only thing I'm most curious about if its an authentic sword, the age of it is a bonus but I expect it will be hard to set a timeline on it."