Takehisa in military mounts "W" stamp

[BRUNROX]

Greetings All, I have a nice Katana made by Takehisa in 1943 with the "W" stamp on tang, that I have been trying to research now for some time. I know the subject came up in the past on the board, but I found some info on the Web that has me a bit :? Here we have the same blade that sold in Japan, with the registry papers signed 1981.

 

http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:UF ... clnk&gl=us

 

The stamp is present, has not been removed. Is it not that these swords are destroyed if they contain no historical/cultural

value ? Would like to know your thoughts. Regards, Mario P.

[Stephen]

not sure if its the w stamp, pic are small

[estcrh]

Greetings All, I have a nice Katana made by Takehisa in 1943 with the "W" stamp on tang, that I have been trying to research now for some time. I know the subject came up in the past on the board, but I found some info on the Web that has me a bit :? Here we have the same blade that sold in Japan, with the registry papers signed 1981.

 

http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:UF ... clnk&gl=us

 

The stamp is present, has not been removed. Is it not that these swords are destroyed if they contain no historical/cultural

value ? Would like to know your thoughts. Regards, Mario P.

Mario, have you seen this site http://ryujinswords.com/shostamp.htm it has a lot of good info.

[BRUNROX]

Thanks for the link, very interesting reading. The same site happens to have a Takehisa for sale also, mentioning he was responsible for forging some of the finest Mantetsu swords :? Regards, Mario P.

 

http://ryujinswords.com/takehisa.htm

[estcrh]

Thanks for the link, very interesting reading. The same site happens to have a Takehisa for sale also, mentioning he was responsible for forging some of the finest Mantetsu swords :? Regards, Mario P.

 

http://ryujinswords.com/takehisa.htm

Mario, I see what looks like a ...w..stamp on this blade. is this the same stamp as yours?

[BRUNROX]

Yes, its identical to that. There are other "W" stamps on the board under Takehisa. Interesting though that Ryuijin claims this to be a Mantetsu stamp , I have read otherwise. Regards, Mario P.

[george trotter]

Mario, My old eyes can't see a W stamp on your sword, but I have seen them on the few Takehisa blades I have handled, so presume yours are hidden by rust or my eyes are bad, The stamp on the nakago mune, which you show twice, is "To", and is the same stamp seen on the blades and metalwork of many nco swords and bayonets...I think it may be an arsenal stamp and I'm sure it is listed in various publications...I am not sure what it means when found on a Takehisa blade...mounted in the Tokyo arsenal? Don't really know, sorry.

George.

[David Flynn]

I believe the W stamp refers to Nagoya Arsenal. Much more I can't help with except that I have seen what I believe to be a Gendai by Yoshiharu with a W stamp. This particular sword looked very much like another Yoshiharu I saw without any stamp.