Shamsy

Stephen is right. If you're going to bother, do it properly. Someone trained and with decent quality ito. Otherwise you may as well toss in a polish on a grinder and a respray of the saya with a paint gun.

Removing surface rust from the nakago is fine. Wipe Wipewith aforementioned oily rag, don't scrub with an abrasive.

Lovely sword Neil. I'm a big fan of Type 0, specifically because I like the ito. You could get a really unique niche collection if you focussed on 98 with this style.

That hamon Bazza! Gorgeous! The koshirae immediately tell you something special is inside and there's no disappointment.

Type 1 or 2? Do you mean Type 94 and 98? Dennis is spot on. Only an extraordinary koshirae will do much for price. Blade can be anywhere from 1k to 35k.

Thank you for taking the time to provide some examples/evidence. I'm happy to admit I was wrong and it appears the entire sword is fake. Cheers Thomas.

You could of course be right Thomas, but the picture is blurry and I've not seen the sword. I admit it's more likely to be fake fittings on a fake blade, but Peter is the one who saw it, not me. Oh I fully acknowledge you're the expert on this pattern too, so I'll concede it is as you say based on that. I collect 95s, not kai

And there you go, original fittings as half of us thought. No surprise there. I'm glad you got a look Peter.

On my little screen it all looks rather nice, bar the ito. If I was looking at the fitting quality I'd want better resolution. Everything is badly blured on even a slight zoom. Could just be the phone doing that... A few more pictures would be nice before everyone starts to scream the usual “fake”. Here's a Chinese copy for comparison: https://m.ebay.com/itm/clay-tempened-Japanese-KAI-GUNTO-OFFICER-SWORD-WWII-katana-sword/112358345709?hash=item1a29144bed:g:VzIAAOSwSX9XA-fx

The bohi suggests something interesting. Lovely looking sword, but the ito and menuki don't look right. Have they been shifted?

I wasn't planning to comment since 98s are really not my thing. But thought I'd add this in: The Japanese did typically excel in craftsmanship, but there are plenty of examples of cruder work. Have a read through this thread and check some of the links. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/21190-seki-inspection-tag-on-combat-saya/page-1 The swords with the paper Seki labels mentioned in F&G are often in very poor fittings and crude blades, usually unmarked bar painted kanji. As a private purchase item we need to accept that levels of quality and fittings may vastly vary. Each piece should be judged individually. More reliable means such as fit, patina and other signs of age need to be employed when judging the minefield that is 98 collecting.

Bruce said it. That was an artificial price imposed on smiths. Bearing in mind that it was still a handsome sum to pay back then. That's not particularly relevant to the date debate though, which is the determination of the ‘Type’. Official records from the Japanese national archives show the date the pattern was approved, which is contrary to the now very dated information from Ohmura, F&G and the like. I really don't understand why there is so much reluctance to believe that something written 5 years ago could be wrong (and if people don't believe the National Archives then it's a pointless debate). A lot of the recent research Nick has completed has answered some interesting questions other researchers weren't able to answer. It's all backed up by original documents. I don't believe you'll find much better sources than primary documents. I think enough has been said. People can make up their own minds now. I will call it the Type 0 (and get funny looks I'm sure). Type 3 is the common designation, if incorrect designation, so I don't see it changing any time soon.

If it's on Facebook then that probably explains a lot Bruce! I don't have/use/know how to use any of the social media sites. It's good to know though that Mantetsu can be found in other mounts. I absolutely didn't know until yesterday!

I have never heard of Mantetsu in Type 0 mounts. I know they hold a variety of blades, from average to top range. I'm personally a big fan of the utilitarian style mounting. I find it very... stylish in a minimalist fashion. Like the guest at the party that is missing the frills but stands out because of it. Were I not collecting 95s I'd probably be after 0s

I saw 2013. If that's the right page, it's very out of date.

Source?

Well known sellers with constant stock a range of militaria do attract a premium. Probably for the ‘trust’ factor I'd hypothesise. It's far safer for newer buyers and worth the extra.

Sorry Grey, I'm just poking fun because it's a standard Type 95 machine made, which is so far off the listing tags. To be fair, the description is accurate though.

Hey guys, saw this awesome gendaito in full polish. Should I get it? https://m.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-WWll-Army-officers-type-95-NCO-sword-matching-number-Nagoya-arsenal/352269633254?hash=item5204e806e6:g:DgAAAOSwWMhacm7V I haven't seen the nakago but I think it'll be a highly ranked smith. Showa22 is not a rookie trader. Or maybe that's the issue? Is it just to draw search hits?

There are a lot of very good repro being made. Fairly indistinguishable from the original. The usual countries make them. Luckily, they don't seem to make the really high quality ones, so you have a better chance of getting a real one. Repro are mostly cast ones without too much detail (presumably because it's somewhat easier).

For a nice example, no more than $100, but I'd aim around $80 myself. Plenty available on eBay that are genuine. Plenty that are very convincing but modern made too...

Poor example of a fake. Bruce has it covered but I'll repeat the obvious signs. Serial font is wrong. There are many different styles, fonts, depths and spacing - that is not one Lack of any paint on tsuka is usually a give away, as getting a good match seems to elude the repro guys Lack of a sarute is also a potential sign. Repro rarely have the correct size and shape Tsuba is sharp edged, not the correct shape at all Those stamps. Dear God, size and location, quality of the stamp, fantasy stamps The seppa has nipple like edges, not tiny cut-out teeth Poorly cast tsuba Incorrect size of bohi Incorrect termination point of bohi Zero patina in all the areas one would expect to see exhibiting age Incorrect propotions of tsuba and not the correct shape Incorrectly shaped habaki The kissaki is undoubtedly terminating incorrectly and poorly defined The materials of the fuchi and tsuba are obviously artificially aged Colour of the saya isn't actually too bad. The quality and finish of the blade itself. Machine made the 95 was, but they were very well finished swords. Look at the rough, bubbly texture; it screams cheap. I think Bruce has the rest. Probably a few more but those stand out.

Again holy cow, but I guess scarcity can dictate price... Cheers for following Hamish

A stamp that small will be difficult to discern regardless of picture size. Even zoomed in it looks like a mess. Heaven forbid that it's not been clearly struck.

That's a much gentler way to do it Bruce. I see a lot of sandpaper jobs with the blades, sometimes taking off a fair bit of metal.