Unusual Type 32

[Shamsy]

Hi all,

 

Bit of a mystery to me. Found this 32. It has no stamps and aserial number starting with 0. The scabbard has a struck through number starting with 0, thn is matched.

 

We basically don't see the Chinese 32s in Aus. I compared it to my own collection and the fake Hamish posted. It's the right size, it's correct in all details, bar the scabbard ring looking lower than usual. It's well made,bit has been over cleaned.

 

Thoughts? I'm personally going real but unusual.

[vajo]

The blade looks like cleaned from rust with sand.

[Stephen]

Like Steve said overly cleaned. The blade must of had deep rust.

[Shamsy]

Agreed. I expect that's where the blueing from handle and guard went as well. Definitely overcleaned.

[lonely panet]

real, but either sandblasted bead blasted. 

 

then I would say lighty buffed or metal polished. 

[Bruce Pennington]

Steve, I have one very similar but I am in my car and will post pictures when I get home. No stamps on the hand guard, serial number beginning with zero, and restamped numbers on the drag.

 

These blades often went to the factory for rehab. It was common to see filed off numbers on the drag and new numbers restamped.

 

Pictures to follow.

[Shamsy]

Thanks all. I've got one with three restamps, and seen a few others with one or two as well. But never the leading 0, which was unusual. Other than the hanging ring location it looked good, so glad to hear my judgement was sound.

 

Agree it's been horribly overcleaned, but it's a bit unusual and cheap enough, so will add to the collection. Cheers

[Bruce Pennington]

Here's mine, Steve. Additionally, as you might image of me, I took the handle off and found what I believe to be a date stamped on several of the parts, including inside the backstrap. Using the dot as a seperation between the year and the month/day, it's 1918 January 21.

[Shamsy]

Thanks for the pictures, Bruce. Do you have one of the scabbard suspension ring? Is it lower than usual on your example? Otherwise, very interesting to see the date stamps. Having not taken one apart I've not seen that before.

 

Great community of collectors here, really is good to be part of it.

[Bruce Pennington]

Here ya go Steve:

[Shamsy]

It looks a lot higher than the other. More like the standard ones. I think I'll have to get and compare the other one, see if there really is a difference. Cheers Bruce.

[Bruce Pennington]

Mine is 3.5 in or 9cm from the top.

[Windy]

Mine is 3.5 in or 9cm from the top.

Nice to see you ‘Muricans’ using them newfangled cm’s

[Bruce Pennington]

Nice to see you ‘Muricans’ using them newfangled cm’s

Ha! But I think you misspelled ‘Murcans’! . But I not a gud spellur.

[Windy]

Touché Brucé

[Kiipu]

@Shamsy, was 060682 a Kō or Otsu model Type 32?  Is the Tōkyō Arsenal logo still visible?

甲 Blade Length:  832mm  32.75 inches.

乙 Blade length:  774mm 30.5 inches.

[Shamsy]

@Kiipu it is a Ko model. I had a very close look and there does appear to be a faint marking on the guard after all. I think it has just been so badly molested in the name of 'cleaning' it is difficult to see it clearly.