CowboyVittles

Jackpot! Thanks for the replies, guys. Wasnt sure if it was actually old as I know next to nothing about mumei, but the nakago looked genuine to my untrained eyes. Thanks, Yeah, seems like the previous owner of these swords tried his hand at a home polish on some... shame, but oh well. I have not done anything abrasive to the nakago. Just a very light dab of mineral oil & a dab off to dry, for fear of moisture in my local area. Should I refrain from letting oil touch the nakago in the future or does this matter?

Hey guys, was wondering if you could comment on this mumei blade. Came in Type 98 koshirae with the exception of the round tsuba. Looks like some rougher Edo tsuba I've seen, but I have no idea about the authenticity. Not sure if there is hada showing through in these or just scratches... but definitely some kind of hamon in there. It might have shown signs of shortening under the habaki, but I forget, didn't take it off during pictures. Can go back & check if that helps ID any.. any info is much appreciated!

Bruce, Sorry for the delay. Got a bit sidetracked with the 4th and family events this week. Appears there's actually *2* little star stamps on the nakago, as far as I can see? One to the below-right and looks to be another further offset on the left side. Hope these of the hamon are clear enough to be of help. I don't really have much of a darker sheet to lay them on. Looks like some kind of hada to me in the 2nd Pic, but I am nowhere near familiar enough with hada patterns to say that with confidence.

Whew, exciting to have a blade that could possibly help you out with your records! Will update with more pics this evening. Haven't seen a star, just that tiny kanji at the top of mei side. Will include a closer Pic of that one. Edit: scratch that, think I'm seeing a tiny star opposite of the tiny kanji. (Which may just be another Seki, hard to tell). Will catch a pic. Will include close-ups of hamon & see if I can catch a hada. From my limited knowledge, I'd guess that the hamon exhibits a more "soft" transition akin to a water quench. But I trust your guys' eyes a bit more! Haha

Overall shape of nakago

This one's got a lot of interesting stuff to look at. -Nakago has mune stamp, similar to "Seki Toku" from p.53 of Stamp Guide Mar 2024 -Mei/writing on both sides of nakago; unidentified stamp (to my eyes) towards top on traditional mei-side -Hamon looks to be suguha pattern -Ito has been re-wrapped, with a hilariously bad plastic cover. With this & the mismatched numbering, wouldn't be surprised if this guy assembled "Frankenswords" from surplus. Numerals: -Tsuba and spacers are all marked "17" in arabic numerals. Fuchi is marked "17" on the inside rim, in Japanese Roman numerals. -Tsuka stamped "17" with some other unknown symbols in red ink -Inside of Scabbard seems marked "13" or "17"? -Scabbard release button marked "12" I believe? Translations & opinions appreciated! Will have more pics of furniture & overall geometry of the blade in next post. Edit: I also see evidence of roman numerals on the inner-side of the habaki. Just scared to remove it & kick up all that rust. Just wondering would there be any benefit to knowing the number inside the habaki?

Definitely what I'm leaning towards. I appreciate the info. The overall craftsmanship of the tsuka is very unimpressive compared to the others. Have reason to believe the guy had some of his ito re-wrapped, but the rest of this tsuka is poor enough for that to be negligible, IMO. Ah well, island sword or no, as far as my interests go, I'll just chalk this one up as "nowhere close to nihonto", and I'm satisfied with that assessment. Appreciate the help, guys!

Sorry guys, been a busy day, didn't get around to getting pics of the saya. Will update asap. Even if the blade is a stinker, I have a sneaking suspicion that this guy could have Frankenstein'd some of his gunto, so who knows, saya may have some authenticity so I'll upload more pics when I can. I'll start a thread on one we should have some more fun with soon enough, though. Gonna need a signature translation on the next one!

Here we go, able to upload these now. Can provide close ups tomorrow for saya. But it's late in my neck of the woods so it's off to bed for me. Thanks again, guys!

Ah well, suspected as much for this one. Thank you for the reply. Any thoughts on the stamp?

I recently came into possession of some Type 98's. The previous sellers didn't know much about ID'ing them as it was part of an estate sale for the deceased. The man was a bit of a hermit from what little I knew of him. I felt good about his collection & pulled the trigger on some. The others seem a lot less weird, so I figured I'd share this one to kick off my little adventure. A bit suspicious of this blade, to tell the truth. No signature on nakago from what I can tell. But there is a stamp on the exposed mune, which seems worrisome from what ive been researching? The blade has seen some poor attempts at polishing as well, unlike the others, which are all clear enough to see hamon. Well, tried to compress the pics of the tsuka & tsuba close-ups but looks like they're still coming out too big. Will post those as soon as It let's me. But, definitely more curious about this blade more than anything. Any help is greatly appreciated.