The State of Nihonto in the United States

[Cookie4Monstah]

Greetings everyone,

 

I would like to start this post by acknowledging the enormous wealth of knowledge found here on this forum. As someone relatively new to the world of "nihonto" there is much to be learned and discovered. Here in the United States there is a massive untapped reserve of "nihonto" that is attributed to the sword edict imposed on Imperial Japan at the end of the 2nd World War. With that being noted I'd like to ask my fellow enthusiasts in the U.S. to please share any noteworthy experience(s) and/or find(s) related to "nihonto" that they have come across domestically. It is important to recover these precious artifacts of history whenever possible. Especially from dusty shelves of pawn shops and disorganized gun-racks at gun shows where the are commonly found. One must acknowledge a reality that not every sword can be restored and papered but we can try our best to land a "big one" worthy of such an endeavor.

 

The floor is now yours,

Khalid

[Baba Yaga]

8 hours ago, Cookie4Monstah said:

Especially from dusty shelves of pawn shops and disorganized gun-racks at gun shows where the are commonly found. One must acknowledge a reality that not every sword can be restored and papered but we can try our best to land a "big one" worthy of such an endeavor.

 

If you're finding Nihonto at Pawnshops and Gun-Racks you're an extremely lucky person. BTW Pawn Stars is pure BS. 

 

I knew a couple of guys in the 80's / early 90"s who were into  knives and Nihonto. They would advertise in Military towns 2 weeks prior and stay in motel rooms on weekends. The line of people would start before 8 in the morning. They would come back with Barrels full of swords and knives. Those days are long gone!  Along came the Web / ebay / craigslist / cheap Chinese Repos / manufactured fantasy swords and all that easy pickens went away.  I was extremally lucky several years ago and found a person who wanted $500 for 5 Nihonto which his uncle gave him from WW2. I ended-up keeping 1 and selling the other 4 for $$$$$$$. I've seen more than my share of Junk and severely abused swords in more than 3 decades.  

 

[RobCarter3]

I know some people are able to consistently find blades "in the wild", but I've never found a nihonto at a pawn shop, antique mall, garage sale, or estate sale.  I've only really been looking for the last 2-3 years, but I've been looking regularly in my local area.  I do semi-regularly see NCO guntos and showato in poor condition with ludicrous asking prices at antique shops.

[drbvac]

They certainly have been looked at and sold and resold a lot of times since the end of the war in 1945. The only "find"  I ever had was a group of 6 swords a dealer had and wanted to move them quickly and were a hodgepodge of British Sabres, a Masonic sword and an Indian Tulwar but also a ShinGunto and a Naval officers sword in really great condition one of which had an older family blade. Paid 1000 bucks for the six of them and we were both happy. Mind you that was 25 years ago and since it has been nearly 80 years since they were brought back they have been spread far and wide and are in the hands of collectors and sold and resold to newbies ever since.

[Ken-Hawaii]

I've found Koto & Shinto blades at several local pawn shops. In every case, however, the shops had no idea what they really had, & posted prices that were ludicrously high. I tried to educate one shop owner, who refused to consider that his information might be in error, even when I showed him several references.

 

As far as finding Nihonto, Hawaii is a lot closer to Japan, so YMMV.

[Baba Yaga]

Oh, I know a generational Pawn Shop owner. They don't pay anything for anything, that's the business model.  The most they've paid for a gun that's worth $3k "wholesale" is $300. They told me "any" sword was worth $25 maybe $50 and that was before all the repro junk started coming on the market. It's even worse with jewelry.  When I started, senior collectors warned me about Pawn Shops. Oh but I had a personal relationship with a very large one. That didn't work out so well.   

[John C]

About 8 months ago there was one listed on Shopgoodwill. It appeared to be a very rusty type 95. It ended up going for 1400!

John C.

[Scott JM]

I once received as a gift a very nice parade Kyu gunto that was in an umbrella stand at one of my college professors' houses.  I was there visiting, and he said I could keep it if I wanted, and that his father brought it back from the war. It was a good day.

---Scott M.

[Baba Yaga]

19 hours ago, Ken-Hawaii said:

I've found Koto & Shinto blades at several local pawn shops. In every case, however, the shops had no idea what they really had, & posted prices that were ludicrously high. I tried to educate one shop owner, who refused to consider that his information might be in error, even when I showed him several references.

 

As far as finding Nihonto, Hawaii is a lot closer to Japan, so YMMV.

 

Didn't someone discover the dreaded Kamikaze Tanto in Hawaii? 

https://www.alexautographs.com/auction-lot/Japanese-kamikaze-pilots-suicide-knife-and-pilots_B404FD6AA8

[Surfson]

Hi Khalid.  There are a number of threads on NMB about great finds that have been made by NMB members. As an early collector, it is easy to get drawn into thinking one has found a treasure when coming across a common blade in "the wild".  (for example a mumei wakizashi in so so mounts). It has gotten harder to find treasures, but dig around and you will find these great threads in NMB about fantastic finds.  

For example, have a look at the "Japanese blade from court" thread.