Fake Type 95 Nco Swords

[Bruce Pennington]

10 hours ago, vajo said:

very expensive learning lesson

Another Polish imitation in the 50,000 serial range.  Good one Chris!

[IanS]

Good morning gentlemen,  many thanks for your responses, I was pretty certain this was a Chinese fake and asked the auction house for the following,

"Please can you show the arsenal stamps on the fuchi and if possible, on the tang too. Is there a habaki with the sword, none shown fitted to the blade.
Many tanks,
Ian Scott."

 

I hadn't received a reply and on the day prior to the auction I sent the following,

"Hi again, I sent a request message earlier regarding this lot and having looked more closely at the photos, this is not a genuine Japanese Type 95 Gunto, probably an early Chinese fake.
The fuller has a different section and length compared to a genuine type 95.
The tsuka looks to have induced wear or is just extremely badly cast and without a trace of paint.
There is no habaki.
There is no inspection stamp after the serial number.
If it was genuine, according to the serial number it would have been made at the Nagoya Arsenal early in the war."

 

I agree with you on the serial number.  The tsuba casting looks rubbish too. 

 

The auction house went ahead with describing the sword as Japanese, this to me is misrepresentation, I hope the buyer takes it back and kicks up merry hell.

 

Incidentally, I did add to my message that I thought it had little or no value.  The hammer price was £600!!

 

Ian.

 

[Smee78]

Some of these are getting really tough to tell. At first glance, some of them look good but the finer details are still lacking. Good eye to our seasoned members who have helped me/us when looking at some of these and teaching us what to look for. Thanks for all you do.

[IanS]

Hello Ron,

 

I cannot agree more.  The one I've highlighted here, now looks a doddle to detect having seen the tough ones.

 

Regards,

Ian.

[B Harbin]

Ok Guys real or fake sword ke 

[Bruce Pennington]

Looks legit to me.

[John C]

Bruce beat me to it. Looks legit.

Note the style of font on the numbers (especially the 3), the way the bohi is cut rounded at the back and angled at the kissaki, the level of detail on the formed menuki.

 

John C.

[B Harbin]

Ok Guys a friend of mine that owns a pawn shop just got this in real or fake and estimated value before I make him an offer

[Conway S]

@B Harbin Note on the fuchi, the center stamp is 名 for Nagoya Arsenal (to the left of the cannon balls stamp) The blade stamp following the serial number, however, is 東 for Tokyo. They should match and the Nagoya inspection stamp and serial are read blade up (upside down). So the blade and handle are not original to each other at least from the production standpoint. 

 

Conway

[IanS]

Hi,

 

you guys have beaten me to it.  I was going to say that I couldn't see anything that looked wrong with the iron tsuba model, the first one put up by Harbin B, but then, I'm no expert and I could have been wrong.  I did say when I joined that I was in awe of the experience on here and hoped some would rub off!!  I don't have any type 95's.

 

Ian.

 

[B Harbin]

Ok thanks guys I appreciate the help.

any idea on the value 

[John C]

2 hours ago, B Harbin said:

any idea on the value

Do the serial numbers on the saya and blade match? The recent market has been in the 800 - 900 range. But mismatched parts would bring the price down somewhat.

 

John C.

[B Harbin]

Yes they match

[Bruce Pennington]

I love that Seki Shoten stamp.  Really clearly struck!

 

@Shamsy @Stegel -Gentlemen, what do you think think of this one?

[vajo]

 Found this Type98 "shin-gunto" on etsy. Brand new. 

It's not a Type95 but it looked very "authentic" for a replica. The blade is called 1095 steel. 

The tsuka maki binding is correct ( left/right) and the details looks good.

The price is with 899 Dollar not so far from a real Typ98 in good condition. 

 

[John C]

2 hours ago, vajo said:

Found this Type98 "shin-gunto" on etsy

Could be a Swords of Northshire build.

https://www.swordsof...ed-1095-steel-katana

 

John C.

[vajo]

That looks really the same John.

[Bruce Pennington]

9 hours ago, vajo said:

It's not a Type95 but it looked very "authentic" for a replica.

Yes, some of these outfits are quite precise in their work.  Makes one glad the other fakers don't take as much time and attention to detail.

[vajo]

And the next one on ebay. Shipped from Hong Kong with a T-10 steel blade.

 

 

And this one is from a california based website "True Swords"

299 USD

 

 

That is from an Netherlands Seller 

Called Yasukuni-to Captains Swords with a HWS Steel blade (what ever this means)

 

 

[BANGBANGSAN]

On 11/10/2023 at 1:43 AM, B Harbin said:

Ok Guys a friend of mine that owns a pawn shop just got this in real or fake and estimated value before I make him an offer

 

 

 

 

@Bruce Pennington

This Blade #160869 might be transferred to Nagoya Arsenal for completion or repurposed and sent to Nagoya Arsenal for rework. Initially, it was expected to have an Ijima band and iron tsuba. The last batch produced by Ijima spanned from serial number 159031 to 161752. Around serial number 160075, they transitioned to using steel guards. Ijima halted production in March 1945 due to B-29 bombings.

[Bruce Pennington]

2 hours ago, BANGBANGSAN said:

This Blade #160869 might be transferred to Nagoya Arsenal for completion or repurposed and sent to Nagoya Arsenal for rework.

Ah, that would explain it.  This reminds me of the recent discussion of Nagoya doing some repair work on Suya copper 95s.  

[vajo]

Chinese Repro fittings on ebay. First set I've seen with assembling marks (scratches). Brand new $100

 

[IanS]

I thought I should say thanks to all of you for the education I'm receiving, I've just spotted another two fake type 95's for sale by auction.  Both described as WWII NCO swords' one I remember has an estimate of £400 to £500, with just short of a 35% buyers' commission!  Photos of this sword attached.

Ian

 

[Bruce Pennington]

4 hours ago, IanS said:

I've just spotted another two fake type 95's for sale by auction

Well done!  So for those who are still learning, why don’t you describe a couple of the features that identified this as a fake to you, if you don’t mind.

[vajo]

Finding on Amazon.

Reminds me on a island made sword 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

[IanS]

Hi Bruce,

 

my first reaction was to the blade, the fuller does not finish correctly at the tsuba end, it tapers out if that's the correct term and looks to have been ground in.  The top edge of the fuller to the mune is too wide.  The serial number font looks wrong.  The saya latch is sharply bent.

The photos aren't good enough for much more comment.

Ian

[Bruce Pennington]

Yes. Even with bad photos, the Fuller groove is wrong for Tokyo blade and the shape of the latch is wrong. Two really big giveaways.

[IanS]

Thanks Bruce, glad I didn't embarrass myself.  What about the serial number font?  I haven't seen it before and it just looked wrong.

 

Ian

[John C]

6 hours ago, IanS said:

What about the serial number font? 

Definitely. The vast majority use the pictured font. Check out the 3 and 5 particularly.

 

John C.