WW2 Katana - any more information would be appreciated.

M

Marok

Joined
Dec 24, 2007
Messages
4
This is a sword my grandfather brought back from the Philippines during WW2. I was wondering if anyone had any more information on it. I've heard that antique swords are worth a lot more in their unrestored state. Is that true? I would love to restore this sword, but I really have no idea of what to do with it.







 
Boy, that's an old looking sword. Could it be pre-war and maybe older than the 30s-40s?

Similar story: father in law was with the 41st during the war and brough home two Philipino swords and a Japanese NCO sword. Brother in law took the NCO, I got the PI swords. The NCO sword he had was with a different and wrapped handle.

Any other details on the sword? Where picked up? Who was he with? I'd be interested to find out the family history on that!
 
It certainly could be. The handle looks like a quick-fix for the field, not like an original. I would love to take it apart and check the maker's mark on the tang, but I'm not sure if I want to damage this thing. It certainly is old.
 
Okay, I can't see the pictures at the moment so I can't give you my uninformed opinon on that piece in particular. I can say... DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING until you know what you have. "Restoring" a sword especially a Japanese sword can DRAMATICALLY damage it's value (not to mention the sword). Don't brush off any rust, don't sharpen, don't polish, don't do anything! For information on Japanese WWII era swords I'd suggest a visit to Richard Stein's Japanese sword index here:

http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/nihonto.htm

After having done that you should realize (assuming that the sword is not easily identifiable and a mass produced gunto) that you need a qualified expert to appraise the sword and seek out such.

Looking at the nakago while interesting is not typically going to help the uninformed. Most of the uninformed can't read kanji and truthfully signatures are usually meaningless anyway. There are piles of crappy blades with spiffy signatures both modern and ancient and there are plenty of very good blades with no signature whatsoever.
 
The blade is a machine made mass produced numbered nco style blade. The handle should be all metal. the tape wrapped round it is rubbish that should be removed to prevent corrosion etc, to the metal underneath.
Id say
The scabbard is the NCO type as well.

Clean it carefully with wire wool & baby oil at most.

Removing the screws in the hanndle will just further cause damage for no purpose.

Spiral
 
spiraltwista said:
The blade is a machine made mass produced numbered nco style blade. The handle should be all metal. the tape wrapped round it is rubbish that should be removed to prevent corrosion etc, to the metal underneath.
Id say
The scabbard is the NCO type as well.

Clean it carefully with wire wool & baby oil at most.

Removing the screws in the hanndle will just further cause damage for no purpose.

Spiral
Click to expand...

If it's got a metal handle then I concur it's a mass produced piece with no significant (monetary) value. Man I hate this firewall...
 
The handle is wooden underneath the tape. Thanks for that link, I'll definitely be reading up on that site.
 
Alright, I can finally see the pictures, it looks like an aresenal made i.e. mass produced (numbered even) sword. Value will probably be relatively negligible as far as Japanese swords go, although the prices of WWII gunto do continue to go up. This one does not appear to be in great shape.
 
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