reeder

I don’t see any issues with this one. 26 1/4” nagasa, suguha, large pierced tsuba, cat scratch Habaki, everything you would expect on an early Mantetsu-to. Compare the nakago-Mune to other 1938 examples. We know the signatures changed from year to year, why would it not be possible for nakago shape? A simple google search of “Mantetsu sword 1938” provided enough examples to show the 1938 swords had a flat nakago-Mune.

Nice start!

Yep, this one was destroyed. I recommend returning it as soon as possible.

That was a very nice polish on the Yasunori.

Yes, this is not a seller to waste your time or money on for all of the reasons listed above. He’s gone by multiple names and eBay IDs now.

Nice, Neil. Are there a couple there with mon on the fuchi? Any close ups if so?

Hey Neil, is the smith Iijima Masayuki? Or another smith? If it's Iijima, is it his stamped mei? Signed mei? Dated? Iijima Masayuki blades always came in nice mounts. It seemed they all had pierced tsubas and some had oversized pierced tsubas. I think Ray had one in naval mounts for sale here a couple of years ago, but it's the only one I recall in naval mounts.

I used to own a stamped (Iijima) Masayuki sword, and still own a signed (Iijima) Masayuki sword. Have seen a number of both. It seems that the stamped were average gunto, and the signed were always much larger, maybe custom order. I recall seeing a signed example a couple of years ago with a 34” nagasa. All seemed to have had a pierced tsuba, with the exception of Ray’s (S.) naval.

This seller has been doing crappy garage polishes, adding crappy garage horimono, and now adding mei of popular smiths to lower quality blades. Although this was a pretty collectible kokura blade before he ruined yet another blade. He changed his eBay name after engaging in a number of bad dealings with other sword buyers and sellers (through word of mouth, some of which I know are members here). https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F113088287351

Still looking

I'm down for meeting up for lunch on the 30th.

Daniel, blades only received star stamps if they met strict requirements, including being traditionally made. Stephen, just looks like a mis-stamp and all looks fine to me. How does the rest of the blade look?

The blade clearly has a star stamp. No date => no star stamp. Logic would dictate that this blade would have a star stamp. Hard to really make a call if it’s “rare” based on limited sample sizes. I don’t think it significantly increases the value, just the marketability of it if you were to sell it.

Nakago looks like the other mumei fake swords being sold on eBay from 2 sellers, or 1 seller with 2 names.

You do not want to buy from that seller in Mesquite. All “restoration” done in his garage including Horimono work, Polish work with sand paper, now looks like fake mei has been added to his list of services. He had to change eBay names after getting a bad rep on his first account.

DFW.

Never heard of one.

Looking to add some pieces to my collection. Looking for type 98 and Type 3, all matching gendaito. Looking for blades with nagasa 26” or greater. Looking for: Akihide &/or students Yasukuni-to Yoshimune & students Other RJT smiths etc.

The mei seems fine to me. I don’t think the reference to sloughs has any significance other than referencing Sloughs like all of the other listings out there. I’m quite sure you would put Sloughs references in your listings if able to on a higher rated smith.

You mean only after I questioned the source of the sword referencing one of the known sellers of these fakes and the owner mentioning another seller known to sell these fakes? ???? That was kind of the point of referencing that seller... to point out it wasn’t any good. Although it wasn’t the exact seller, it was another seller selling similar fakes. We all make mistakes and miss things from time to time.

It’s a 1943 Mantetsu.

When I tried to list a flag on eBay a month or so back it wouldn’t let me due to the flag being offensive. Anyways it provided a link to a Japanese agency or organization that tried to connect you with the soldiers family to return items. I’m not sure if they would have the information you seek or if it’s solely related to send captured war items back to the families. I tried to list another flag to see if I could get the link again, but they allowed me to list it and no link provided.

If you didn't meet the requirements, you didn't get a star stamp. If it has a star stamp, it's a gendaito regardless whether or not it has an arsenal stamp. That is unless it's a fake star stamp. Although if a sword by an RJT smith lacks a start stamp, it doesn't necessarily mean it's not a gendaito. I thought all of this was clarified & settled years ago.

Heard that dumping gunto mounts was the norm as you stated. Nice examples, Ed. I have only owned a single sword from Akihide or his students, an Akihisa that was in very rough shape, although the mounts were very nice. Looking back, I wish I would have hung on to that one and restored it. Like Stephen, I'm on the hunt for Takahashi Yoshimune & his students at the moment after picking up a couple by Hiromasa. In regards to the Easter egg sword in my prior post, here's a hint... look at the habaki in the 4th picture. Someone made a very generous offer of $200 (yes, two-hundred) for it recently though it's not for sale.

Nice sword, shame the original wartime mounts are no longer with the blade.