"WA" stamped Blades

[Bruce Pennington]

Two blades have shown up recently, one on the blade I got at auction (Stephen!), and the other on this thread: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/31782-early-type-98-unique-engravings-can-anyone-identify-this-gunto/that have large "WA" stamps on the nakago.

I KNEW I had seen that stamp before, but until today, couldn't remeber where I'd seen it ..... it was right under my nose - in the Stamps Doc, in Richard Fuller's chart!!!

 

It's the "WA" stamp: "(xii) ‘Wa’ stamp. Probably indicates manufacture in an occupied area, most likely by a collaborating force. Found on poor quality rolled or hammered blades." The examples on the blades themselves are well defined, whereas these other two are on nakagos and poorly defined.

 

SO ... now I don't know what to think about these blades. If fake, does the Chinese faker know the Richard & Fuller book and is using this stamp to pass these blades off as "occupied area" made? Or are they really occupied area made?

 

Until now, the only "WA" examples I had are on the blades themselves:

 

I just find it hard to believe that the fakers would be that sophisticated to use that particular stamp. Of course another option is that the WA stamp is the mark of a particular Chinese faker, and Fuller's assumption was wrong and they are all fakes.

 

What has always bothered me about these particular blades, is the blade shape and kissaki are good Japanese shape, but there is no hamon and the steel-work is obviously low-grade. And of course, the nakago are always bad. BUT, this would fit the latest we have been hearing out of Nick's research at Warrelics, indicating the problems mainland Japan was having with bombed out factories and exporting weapons manufacturing to Manchuria.

 

On the other side of the issue is that the fittings on these are really bad. Almost too bad to call late-war, Manchurian-made, rush-jobs.

[Mister Gunto]

Possibly the blades themselves were made in Japanese - occupied Manchuria, but were of poor quality and thus never issued out to the troops. Post-War, the blades may have remained in storage, to eventually show up in the workshops of Chinese fakers. Who then added on more modern-made, poorly done replica koshirae to complete the swords, and get them into the market. 

[PNSSHOGUN]

More likely is they had one of these swords as an example thus many fakes were produced like it. Same thing happened with locally made guns using all sorts of crazy markings and stamps just to add "authenticity".