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Collection Part 2, Type 32's


Hastur

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Brad,

 

Nice pair! I've had a Ko for some time and am finally getting around to bidding on an Otsu, hope I get it! Mine as the leather finger loop. I initially didin't want it because the blade has lots of corrosion, but the loops get so fragile that they break off, and this one was intact, so I got it.

 

I'm a little puzzled by the fact that both yours and mine have the same really bad sharpening marks (I assumed some bozo in the US used a grinder on min). After seeing yours, it seems too coincidental that they are the same marks. SPECULATION ALERT: I wonder if this might indicate poor sharpening attempts in the field??? or it just means there were more than 1 US Bozo after the war with grinders?!

post-3487-0-45950400-1490197465_thumb.jpg

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I believe that they did field sharpen issued ones and it was done by the regiment instead of at the armoury so that may explain the crudeness. The marks look old and worn so I don't think the sharpening jobs are new (my ko excluded).

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 Ohmura indicates that he gets some information from non Japanese sources, remember Japanese law considers all non Nihonto to be weapons not collectable "art objects". I imagine he would have considerable difficulty doing original research on arsenal produced blades. All the more respect to him for putting together such a useful and informative resource. 

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The 32s are great swords. Not terribly traditional looking so they're rather unloved, but you could make a complete and meaningful collection with all the variants at a reasonable budget. Ideally you want low serial numbers as these are probably the swords that have seen the most active service. They made a ton of them. Always get matching numbers unless it's a re stamped scabbard.

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Thanks for the tool name IJA, and ya they are pretty well made as far as sabers go. Very stout compared to some European ones in my collection and the checkered grips are a nice touch. I heard that the models with blued grips saw active service in ww2 although I may be wrong on that. 

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Any of the variants may have seen active service, as while production ceased the sword was worn right until the end of the war. The blued ones are refurbished according to Dawson who thought that the 'white' (bare metal) were the original configuration. I'd say that's likely correct. You see the finger loops evident on white models and earlier pattern scabbard swords, but not on the later blued. The even later serial number ranges don't have the hole for the finger loop, and these tend to be blued and painted versions. There's really not been enough research on the subject for a definitive answer though and there are always exceptions that pop up to prove you wrong the moment you think you've got the answer.

 

Being somewhat unpopular means we focus on the officer patterns and 95's. I did consider collecting 32s as my primary focus instead of 95's, but the 95 was my first Japanese sword, then I also found a couple of special 95's and that settled the argument. Still, I'd enjoy collecting then alongside, so maybe that's something to think about.

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