Help with identification of WWII Samauri Sword

cnymike · May 25, 2013

Hello,

My Father brought this back from his service in the war and its been sitting in my basement since his passing. I've taken the handle off and took some photos of the markings on the sword.

What is interesting to me is that both sides have markings. It is my understanding that one side shows the date and the other the swordmaker. But there is also some marker symbols of some sort that I don't know what the purpose of they are either.

I've done some work trying to identify the swordmaker by using Internet resources but was unable to come up with an answer so I'm hoping one of the experts in this forum might be able to offer a translation of the markings on the sword.

I've posted the photos in my Flickr account. Here is the URL: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cnymike/sets/72157633632085938/

I appreciate any help you may be able to provide.

Michael

cabowen · May 25, 2013

The sword is signed Katsumasa and dated December, 1944.

It looks to have been bent every which way, which means it has lost most of its value.

cnymike · May 25, 2013

Thanks Chris for such a quick response.

The sword was not cared for very well, that's for sure. I think someone along the way tried sharpening it as well which I'm sure destroyed the blade.

Is it possible to offer -any- sort of idea what I could sell this sword for? And what would its value be if it were in "collectable" condition vs its current condition?

I just want to get it out of my house and thought someone would find it more worthwhile to have than I do.

cabowen · May 25, 2013

I would try ebay. It might fetch $300-$400 as is, maybe twice that if it hadn't been damaged. My guess is that it is a non-traditionally made blade.

Brian · May 25, 2013

Michael,

Listing it in the for sale section here would probably find it a new home without the auction hassle. But it is pretty far gone. Can't understand how it would have been bent like that

The one pic shows negative curvature, the other one shows it curving the right way. Am I seeing things?

Brian

cnymike · May 25, 2013

I think the photo or lighting is poor. The blade is not bent. The apparent sharpening attempt has caused the photo to look weird.

Any thoughts Bout the marker-like characters? What do the say or indicate?

Michael

Lance · May 25, 2013

The marks that look like they're painted on are assembly numbers, usually put on when the sword was being mounted to keep track of what fittings went with a specific sword as they produced dozens/hundreds at a time.

(If it's as bent as the pictures look it might have been run over by something in the field, saw a bent up sword once with what looked to be tread marks on the scabbard)

Regards,

Lance

cnymike · May 26, 2013

Michael,
Listing it in the for sale section here would probably find it a new home without the auction hassle. But it is pretty far gone. Can't understand how it would have been bent like that

The one pic shows negative curvature, the other one shows it curving the right way. Am I seeing things?

Brian

Brian,

I just realized why it looks so bent. It is because I took the photo using a panorama sweep feature of my camera., It is not bent, it just looks that way because of the method used to take the full length picture of the sword using the panorama feature.

I have uploaded a new video that hopefully will clear up the issue.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cnymike/8835225843/

Here are some photos...

Michael