Bassmaster360

@stu: thanks for the references. I'll make sure I read them during my freetime and become more adept with my new "hobby". @bruno: once i become more familiar with nihonto/gunto, I'll make my first purchase. Thanks for the info.

i see. well, i guess i have much to learn. I've been collecting firearms for years now, but Japanese swords are a new thing to me. Hopefully I become as adept with nihonto as I am with firearms as years pass by. Thanks for the input. I'm not purchasing the blade.

I guess you're right. I'll see if I can lower it down to $50, repolish it, and use it for rough backyard tameshigiri.

Well I managed to bargain with him down to $100. Is it worth it?

Hmmm, that's what I thought. Man, chinese fakes are getting really good. If it wasn't for the serial number and if they aged the mei, I don't think any of us would know it's fake unless you're trully an intermediate to expert collector. The grain of the exterior steel seemed alittle fishy too. The metal near the habaki looked a little too damascus-y. Any other opinions? For all I know until I see it in person tomorrow, it could be the real thing with a replacement habaki that happened to have a serial #...

I am interested in this Gunto katana some one is selling. They claim that their grandfather owned it, and he recently passed away. It looks like a type 98 gunto to me. The only problem is, there is a 01680 serial number on the habaki. Everything looks aged and authentic, but made-in-china forgeries now a days are getting really good at... faking forgeries. I heard real guntos only have serial # on the blade itself since the habaki is not an integral part of the blade. Are there exceptions to this rule? Or am I looking at a fake? Perhaps its a real gunto with a replacement habaki that was replaced some time after the war by a owner? Another thing that bothers me is that the mei engraving is fresh and silver while the rest of the handle is oxidized and dark. That seems fishy to me... shouldn't the mei/signature be just as oxidized as the surrounding steel? \ Now that you've seen the pics, please let me know if the blade is real or a fake. And please identify what the blade is (is it a type 98? 94? 94 repo? 98 repo?). Also, whether or not its fake, let me know if it's worth $100.