Help Identifing a Samurai Sword

M

michael0257

Joined
Feb 28, 2001
Messages
13
Can any one give me some information on a Samurai Sword that I came across? I have had several people look at it and have gotten different ideas. I have digital photos to help with the id. The handle is not wood, but metal. The blade is not rolled and has a numeric stamp at the end. I've been told it was factory made for the average solder and not a family sword. Any ideas of value?
Thanks
The Pictures can be seen at this link:
http://images.ofoto.com/photos53/1/70/94/9/23/0/23099470103_0_ALB.jpg


 
My guess is that it's a "gunto" mass-produced military sword, and worth maybe a couple hundred bucks. Some martial artists buy gunto at gun shows (hey, that almost rhymes!) and replace the handle, scabbard, and fittings to get a fairly inexpensive practice sword. There's good info at www.swordforum.com.
 
It sounds like the people pretty much got it right. I would say the thing is almost certainly a gunto and the ones with the metal handles were later lower quality ones. They were made for noncommissioned officers. If it has a serial number it is certainly machine made. As Bruce mentioned they go for a couple of hundred bucks generally on ebay, mostly to miltaria collectors I would guess since there are some other more attractive alternatives for the martial artist.

[This message has been edited by Triton (edited 03-01-2001).]
 
When dealing with a sword in mountings like this, you are operating with probability only. It is PROBABLY just a mass-produced showato. It PROBABLY does not have much value in terms of collectibility compared to Nihonto.

However, it is by no stretch impossible to be a Nihonto! However, more detail of the blade must be seen. If the grain and the hamon are visible, then I need to see. Does that blade have grooves? How crisp, defined, and shaped are they? Pop the tang out of the handle and examine it. How old is the oxidation/rust? Is there a signature? How is it shaped?

The blade is what matters most...and to figure out what it is, we need detail.

and http://swordforum.com has no "www" in it. You can check with their Nihonto forum, particularly if you can get some more detailed pictures of the blade and tang to show. Pictures are only pictures and can only go so far, though.

Shinryû.
 
Not to give you to hard a time Robert but a nihonto with a serial number? I'm betting that our guy here won't be able to pop it out of the handle because if I remember right the metal ones were screwed on.
 
I failed to read that it had a serial number...it's still not impossible, but exponentially more likely to be mass produced. Thanks for bringing that up.

Shinryû.
 
Thanks everyone for all help. I did remove the handle and found no signature. Two brass screws held on handle and wood insets that formed around the blade and filled the metal (tin) handles. The only good thing found was that the serial number on the blade matched the number on the scarab.
Again thant…..
Michael
 
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