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Bruce Pennington

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Everything posted by Bruce Pennington

  1. Bruce Pennington
    Second time I've seen a tsuba with the 3-5-3 kiri, this week! Don't know the significance.
  2. Bruce Pennington
    Excellent, thanks Ian!
  3. Bruce Pennington
    A nice one with Buddhist symbology, posted by @Charliebrown HERE.
  4. Bruce Pennington
    Just a side-note: We don't know why, but the high-end Rinjis are seen in the latter years of the war. They were invented in 1938, produced from 1940 onward, but they really didn't seem become popular until '43 and later. That is where you see the nice custom jobs appearing, and most of them with star-stamped RJT blades in them.
  5. Bruce Pennington
    Ian, Does the mei have a kao at the end? If so, would you mind posting the full nakago for my files?
  6. Bruce Pennington
    Yes, that is more likely, thank you. These are from an auction house, so best I have. I just checked some other Kaneharu on file and they match pretty well.
  7. Bruce Pennington
    "Army gunto always have white rayskin, and Navy kaigunto always have black rayskin." We've seen a couple of kiagunto recently with white same'. I started a thread to track them, but have forgotten to follow up. I just saw another over at Leo Monson's house. Next week, I'll get photos and add to this post. Also, have recently seen Army gunto with black rayskin. Here is one of them, posted by @kotkinjs1 This one posted by @PNSSHOGUN
  8. Bruce Pennington
    What do you think, guys? Thanks! Maybe Kanemichi?
  9. Bruce Pennington
    Mei and arsenal trademark stamp ..... what is an arsenal trademark stamp? Inspector stamp? Looking at the Osaka files, I do have one Sadakatsu with "1 阪" on the mune. I don't have a Masakiyo with the saka stamp, but have several other smiths. Wonder if this is what he was talking about? Does this put the "KO" and "HO" stamps on the mune in the same category? I have several smiths with these on the mune. As for Tokyo 1st, other than zoheito, I only have 2 with the "TO" - Yoshiharu and Takehisa.
  10. Bruce Pennington
    Thanks to @Rawa for bringing this one to us. Found at this Jauce Auction
  11. Bruce Pennington
    I plan to visit again next week. I'll get shots of the other 3 cases then. He said the two corroded ones at the top were excavated from some old site and believed to be a few thousand years old.
  12. Bruce Pennington
    Found another one of these drags without the patent information while going through Leo Monson’s collection this week.
  13. Bruce Pennington
    Oops! Yeah that's what I was looking for. Trying to rock the 2mo. old granddaughter and keep her from wailing, and search NMB at the same time! I'll get back over to his house some day, not to far in the future, and update.
  14. Bruce Pennington
    Don’t know the proper place to post this, so I just piggybacked on this thread. One shot of Arrowhead’s from Lee Monson‘s collection. I wish I had taken pictures of the other three cases. This one was interesting because it has wooden whislers. Had not seen these before.
  15. Bruce Pennington
    Here is one for you, John. Comes from Leo Monson’s collection.
  16. Bruce Pennington
    So, what are you saying this is?
  17. Bruce Pennington
    Oh, I do remember reading that, but did not realize that that was what he was trying to say.
  18. Bruce Pennington
    Not to mention that I do not read Japanese ha!
  19. Bruce Pennington
    Spent three hours with Leo Monson looking at his 200 swords. He wanted me to see this Gassan. I don’t know the term for this hada, but it is stunning, and ran the full length of the blade holding the same pattern. Didn’t take any more pictures.
  20. Bruce Pennington
    Nikki, The stamp at the top, "Seki", was used between 1940 and 1944, with most dated blades showing up in 1942, just to narrow down the date range for you. It was a quality inspection stamp used by the civil industry to weed out poor blades. The Seki Cutlery Manufacturers Association stamped approved blades, like this one. Such blades were usually really good quality, though not fully traditionally made - called showato.
  21. Bruce Pennington
    I did not know that, either! Thomas, you always amaze! Thanks brother.
  22. Bruce Pennington
    I have seen buttons like that. Not the "norm" but not uncommon. The patina/finish on the fittings looks to be legit. You will see variations in such things. Various shops that made them sometimes did their own thing, plus custom work often diverted from the norms/standard.
  23. Bruce Pennington
    Hi Craig! As you suspected, it is a Chinese fake. Signs: The Chinese fakes like to use serial numbers on the habaki (brass collar on blade), writing on the blade, and Damascus steel. Also, they make the folds of the handle wrap all turn in the same direction, while Japanese alternate directions in their wrap folds.
  24. Bruce Pennington
    Beautiful hamon! Oil quenched. My opinion, but I find the early showa-stamped blades to have been really well made with great hamon.
  25. Bruce Pennington
    Here's one for the record books! A 3-5-3 on the tsuba. Yoshiaki, showa stamped blade in civil re-fitted rig. Found on this Shigure-militaria sale site.
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