Arsenal Stamps.

[Bruce Pennington]

Thanks John!!!  Yes, I have the style label and a few examples, but I don't have this one!  Like Rockefeller said when a reporter asked him just how many dollars does he need?  Rockefeller said "Just one more!" Ha!  Yeah, I collect all the examples that pop up, thanks again.

[John C]

@Bruce Pennington Any idea on this stamp? I looked at both katakana and hiragana characters as well as stamp doc but didn't see anything.

 

John C.

 

[Bruce Pennington]

Wow, John!  A first!

@Kiipu @BANGBANGSAN  @SteveM @PNSSHOGUN

 

 

[PNSSHOGUN]

"111" with line at the top.

 

From another Seppa:

[Bruce Pennington]

2 hours ago, PNSSHOGUN said:

"111" with line at the top.

Bingo!  What a peculiar way to write the numbers.  I have seen a line under 6s and 9s to make it clear which one is which, but this shop is putting the line on top, seemingly on all numbers.

[Conway S]

When I saw first saw those markings I thought the horizontal line was a 一 as in 1. Interesting that there is a line above the 4 in the example posted by @PNSSHOGUN. Here is a different example of a 2/二 combination. Anyone have thoughts on why the redundancy was used? Is it possible some workers could not read the Arabic numerals?

 

Conway

 

[Bruce Pennington]

13 minutes ago, Conway S said:

Anyone have thoughts on why the redundancy was used?

This is a world we actually know almost nothing about.  The reasons and methods of the koshirae fitters is a big unknown.

[Kiipu]

1 hour ago, Conway S said:

Here is a different example of a 2/二 combination.

 

Looks like the katakana character KI キ to me.

[John C]

@Bruce Pennington Any significance to a double ko stamp or just double punched for some reason?

 

John C.

[Bruce Pennington]

2 hours ago, John C said:

Any significance to a double ko stamp

John,

It's a good question, and one I wish I knew the answer to.  I have many on file, and some are mixed like KO & HO.  I also have double NA and I think I recall a double Gifu.  It is not accidental, but I don't know why there are sometimes 2 rather than 1.

[Jcstroud]

That is one fat "koko" defininitly overthick!

[Bruce Pennington]

On 2/19/2022 at 11:00 PM, Bruce Pennington said:

Sadly, I didn't document the smith name on this one.  If anyone can tell me the name I would appreciate it!

Quoting myself to reference this.  The smith on that one was Masafusa.

 

I have found the patented Kabuse method stamp on both Kaneshige and Masafusa blades (about 6 each).  Only the Masafusa blades have the Genuine core steel hotstamp.

 

Kaneshige

 

Masafusa

 

Still trying to find a discussion I recall that said the "genuine core steel" meant tamahagane.  Anyone know?

[Conway S]

Saw this one on eBay. Hiromitsu 1944 with a Gifu stamp on the mune and on the nakago above the mei + a Seki stamp above the date. @Bruce Pennington

 

Conway

 

Japanese Late WW2 Sword with Many Kanji

 

[FudoMyo]

Found this marking on the blade of a Wakizashi, anybody know it this is realated to any military marking?

[Bruce Pennington]

1 hour ago, FudoMyo said:

military marking

Hello Petter!

 

I see what you mean, however I really doubt this was a stamp of any kind.  The location is not a place where we find stamps, and it's not something that resembles any known stamp.

 

Thanks for bringing up for discussion, though.

[Bruce Pennington]

14 hours ago, Conway S said:

Hiromitsu 1944 with a Gifu stamp on the mune and on the nakago above the mei + a Seki stamp

Thanks Conway!

[John C]

2 hours ago, FudoMyo said:

Found this marking on the blade

Peter:

I agree with Bruce. Looks like marks left from a pair of pliers or a vice.

John C.

[FudoMyo]

John 

Take a closer look at this, absolutly not pliers that is for shure. Definetly a Kanji also have 4 dots on one side in a style as i have seen on gunto sword earlier, thats why the question. That been said I see the point that is put on a unusual spot. So It could be some sort of other marking.

[John C]

You could be right. What I see is a blade held in a vise so someone could beat the stuck tsuka off, hence the movement of the lines. Maybe post it in the translation section and have those guys take a look?

 

John C.

[Kiipu]

Hi Peter, it is not a Japanese character or a logo.  Are there similar markings on the other side?  Also, it seems as if there is some abrasion adjacent to the indentations?  Maybe some type of repair was going on?

[FudoMyo]

John I agree with you, probably vise.

[Bruce Pennington]

I'm posting this here to avoid hijacking Bruno's thread on Gunsui-to, but the original post is HERE, with link to the original site where it was found.

 

So, this image is found on a gunsui-to.  No one has offered an ID or meaning of it yet.  

 

While looking through Dawson's book on early Type 8's and their markings, I found this and thought it was the same thing.  But, the Clement & Jung symbol has 8 rays, whereas this one only has 6.  Might lend some credence, though, to the idea that this may actually represent something, as Dawson suggests, like a sun or cannonball burst.

 

[waljamada]

@Bruce Pennington You're work received a shout out!  Check out this video at about the 17 minute mark.

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

Ha!  Love it!  Now I'm almost as famous as Stephen!  

 

So, is this George one of our Georges?

[Brian]

Wow! Very cool Bruce!

[Yukihiro]

This could be an instance of a double-stamped Seki blade (1941 dated Amahide gunto), but @Bruce Pennington should be able to tell you more about it.

[Bruce Pennington]

Well that's an odd thing to see.  I can clearly see one tip of a sakura.  I thought at first I could see two, but after setting it beside a known stamp, I'm not sure about the one on the left.

 

The use of the Showa stamp and large Seki overlapped from 1940 - 1942 with the majority overlap being in 1941, which aligns with the date of your blade perfectly.  So that supports the idea this was stamped, and then polished out? to add the Seki stamp.

 

Issues - it looks more like a stain, matching the coloration of the rest of the stain below it.  And a big one, I had not thought of earlier - it's considerably high on the nakago, to the point of being above the machi on the blade.  

 

I would leave it in the "I don't know" category.  But I've added it to the file on your blade.

[Bruce Pennington]

15 hours ago, waljamada said:

Check out this video at about the 17 minute mark.

After comparing his blade to the one I have on file, thanks to @robinalexander, I think they are 2 different swords.  George's has a silver habaki and, though not a good photo, the other one appears to be brass.  Also the hamon is not the same:

 

 

They are both in shirasaya, but the sale Rob showed said it was a waki.  Hard to say exactly, but I don't think George's is a wak.

 

[scott 88]

Hey everyone. 
I was encouraged to post here because I have a stamp I am

Unfamiliar with -

I’ve seen the 3 rings stamp before. Does anyone have an idea about the more intricate stamp? 

 

thoughts?

[John C]

3 hours ago, scott 88 said:

thoughts?

The stamps and sword are legit (type 95 Iijima Tokyo 1st), however the blade is in terrible shape and last I saw it was at 751 dollars, which is way too much for the condition it was in. There were no pictures of the serial numbers so not sure if they match the scabbard; black tape is not original as well. I had sent a message to Goodwill with this information, however they didn't post it.

Regards,

John C.

p.s. Please see Bruce Pennington's excellent stamp document in downloads for more info.