Nagoya Type 95 With Top Latch?

[Bruce Pennington]

Somebody HELP! Tell me what I'm looking at! This eBay offering (from a Texas seller) looks legit is everyway UNTIL - the serial number is punched in with an odd type stamp, is Nagoya-style being read with cutting edge up, has a faint Nagoya inspection stamp, BUT the saya latch is on top, not on the side. Plus the serial number is in the 100,000s, which I've never seen before. Either this is something from Nagoya I've never seen, or it's one of the best fakes I've ever seen. Thoughts?

 

http://m.ebay.com/itm/291840054917

[Bruce Pennington]

Here's another one! http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTYwMFgxMjAw/z/-kcAAOSwxehXPMRF/$_3.JPG

[Kai-Gunto]

It looks ok to me.

[Bruce Pennington]

I didn't know Nagoya made top-latch design.

[reeder]

It's in Dawson's NCO section... This is the variation 2a as they refer to it. I just sold one myself. This seller has sold a lot of swords, especially NCOs, think 2-4 copper handled NCOs over the years.

[Bruce Pennington]

Here's a reply from Stegel at Warrelics:

They are both genuine.

Two subcontractors manufactured Type 95's under Nagoya Arsenal Administration Gifu and Seki Token Co,Ltd.

Serial numbers for Nagoya start from about 12k-160k and then the 200k range.

Gifu was the first manufacturer for Nagoya, eventually being replaced with Seki.

As far as font's go, there are many variations between all the contractors. The faint inspection mark on the blade is a feature of many Nagoya blades, as it appears that they stamped them after the hardening of the steel, whereas the Tokyo blades were stamped before.

If you're considering to bid on one of these, you can feel confident that they are not reproductions