Mumei Guntō Fake or Real?

[Minseito1941]

Guntō with no mei, leather combat cover on saya. Need help identifying if this gunto is real or a cheap fake. Thank you 

[ROKUJURO]

That would be a good question for the militaria section where the experts are.

To me, it looks like a very bad fake.

[vajo]

 

[vajo]

This will get interesting now 🙃

[Scott JM]

To me this looks like a bad fake.  Although the ito is very worn, there are signs that it has been wound wrong, and everything else looks wrong.  My one word to describe this would be 'eeeewww.'

---Scott.

[WillFalstaff]

That nakago is making my blood boil!

[Bruce Pennington]

Discussed many times, on many threads.  In the old days, these were immediately labeled as fakes. We now know that there were many swords made in occupied territories. Some of them, like the Java sword, are easily identified. But the rest fall into this identifiable category.  
 

The bad fakes have angled blade tips, or Damascus steel, or acid engraving on the blade. Swords like these, have normal steel, though poorly made, and maybe not hardened, and true looking Japanese blade tips with convincing aging and wear.  
 

At the end of the day, no one really knows!

[Utopianarian]

That thing is a cataclysmic monstrosity of epic wrong… Bury it in a hole and throw away the hole!!

[Kiipu]

My concern is why are they now all of a sudden showing up?  Why have the older generation of collectors never seen one before?  Why do none have provenance as @PNSSHOGUN likes to say?  As for the metalwork, I have seen craftsmen in the Philippines do better work than this.  Back in the 1980s, one could stand and watch them work making belt buckles and other items for military personnel.

[Dave R]

1 hour ago, Kiipu said:

My concern is why are they now all of a sudden showing up?  Why have the older generation of collectors never seen one before?  Why do none have provenance as @PNSSHOGUN likes to say?  As for the metalwork, I have seen craftsmen in the Philippines do better work than this.  Back in the 1980s, one could stand and watch them work making belt buckles and other items for military personnel.

 

 But they have been seen before, the problem is that for the last 50 years or more all the smart boys have shouted "Fake" and walked away........ and still do!

[John C]

Just my two cents, however I am in the island sword camp. My reasoning is that fake parts are generally cast and at least made to resemble the real thing. I just don't see a faker sitting around hand carving all of the pieces that are obviously NOT the real thing. 

John C.

[Ooitame]

Agree with most opinions, fittings, nakago... are just not right. Do not think island made.