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Bruce Pennington

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Everything posted by Bruce Pennington

  1. Call to arms for ogre-maiming sword generates huge response “We want to use metals from ‘urban mines’ (stockpiles of rare metals) recovered from discarded computers and smartphones to make koshirae,” said Teppei Eguchi of Kogei Next who is tasked with producing the mountings. “It will be an effort to blend the past and the present to make something that will be remembered by history.” Interesting idea, just don't know how I feel about that. Mixed feelings. Cool blade, though.
  2. I wonder why the late war army swords so often have the black same? Posting photos:
  3. Nice one, Steven! I've always like those gold & brown daiseppa. Any stamps on the nakago?
  4. Very nice, Brandon! Love it! I had this one on file from Antiques-atlas.com, but I've added your new photos. Thanks for the update.
  5. I don't own these, but a couple of the Mikasa Battleship dirks have been posted over the years; One posted by @BANGBANGSAN and discussed HERE. Another for sale by @matthewbrice HERE.
  6. Mal, "Koanan-issei" is a unique slogan change in the 1945 blades. It's something like "Good luck in the South" and we only have 1 gunto on file with the actual inscription. According to Nick, both Koa Isshin and Koanan Issei were popular marketing slogans during the war that SMR picked up for their blades. As to the student, I realize I had just been assuming the dairy was from a girl. I hear "diary" and I think "girl." So, it's got to be a guy, then. Now it's out of place with your topic, but I'm glad I posted it or I'd still be thinking it was a boy!
  7. Mal, Don't know if your intent for the thread is specific to that forge, or for all "women sword polishing" photos. If it is focused on that shop, let me know and I'll edit and delete. Here are the photos I've filed, but I don't know the shops they were working: We also have a diary entry from a school girl who was polishing blades at the Nanman Army Arsenal.
  8. Well, that's as good a guess as any we've tossed about.
  9. Helping to educate is why many of us are here. While I enjoy living vicariously through each sword that shows up, my real "thrill," now, is helping the newbie along the path. I enjoy my collection, but it is complete. I enjoy our research. And I enjoy educating the knowledge seeker. And like Nick said, all we can do is advise. The responsibility of the next step falls on the newbie.
  10. Yes, that's a Contingency model of the Type 98, or Rinji Seishiki (Or Type 3, Type 100, Naval Landing sword, Type 44, etc). You should be able to simply unscrew the screw. If it doesn't budge, try turning the oposite direction. I haven't run into it personally, but I have read that some WWII screws were reverse threaded.
  11. @Decal I'm attaching the most recent version of the Mantetsu Serial Number Chart. You can use it to see if recently discovered blades are already recorded, if you like. kiipu-mantetsu serial numbers (rev1).docx
  12. Thanks Smith (is that your first name? We usually use first names at NMB). I'm glad you posted that. I had it in the files, but realized after your post that I had mis-labled it as a "Spring". I've fixed that now, thanks again!
  13. Good shots, James. Just an FYI - be sure to oil and clean that blade, and don't touch the steel with your bare fingers. Those prints, left long-term, will become permanent in the blade. For the hamon - gorgeous, just like I expected. The nihonto experts change correct me if wrong, but I think I see the tell-tale signs of oil temptering, so a quality showato, not nihonto.
  14. @BANGBANGSAN @Kiipu @Stegel @robinalexander I'm calling in all experts on this one. The bohi is right for a Nagoya blade. The tsuka screw even has the set punch mark on the end, unusual for fakes. The stamps are pretty darn good. And, Tim, there are plenty of examples of 95s with steel tsuba and copper fuchi. Questionable - The Kokura stamp is offset internally, but @Shamsy has shown plenty of examples of Kokura stamp variations. The NA on the blade serial number looks etched onto the blade. I don't study the serial number fonts, so one of the other guys will have to comment. But their orientation is correct for a Nagoya blade. You read their numbers with the cutting edge up. - The leather cover for the saya doesn't look like it was made for this sword, see all the wrinkles? The tan color of the saya might be post-war Bubba, but Stegel needs to comment on that. The serial number on the saya throat is on the wrong side for a Nagoya saya, however, with non-matching numbers, this could be a Tokyo saya mis-matched to the blade? Guys like Thomas and Stegel that track numbers could say. - There is a tell-tale sharp bend in the latch, common to fakes, but by itself, I wouldn't say definitively it's wrong. I'm not completely convinced this is fake. If it is, it's the best I've seen so far.
  15. Don't know if you've seen this or not, but a good reference for studying the stamps: Stamps of the Japanese Sword in our Downloads section Also, for Type 95s, Ohmura has the basics: 造兵廠の標識 An Arsenal trademark and inspection mark (ohmura-study.net)
  16. Out of the 15 I have on file, 2 have a cursive style mei. Let me know if this is what you are looking for.
  17. I have 2 other Kazunori, showa-stamped, blades on file and they are both in civil fittings:
  18. Hi Shawn! Welcome to Japanese sword collecting! Your mixed fittings are typical for a sword that was originally owned and fitted as a civilian sword. Many blades made in during the war were still bought and owned by civilians. But due to sword shortages, the government/military made a couple of big public drives to get civilians to donate or sell their swords for the war effort. These civil swords then got re-fitted in widely varying combinations to militarize them. The Kabutogane (end cap) and wooden saya (scabbard) were likely how the sword came to the military. The re-fitting operation simply left them in place and put military menugi, tsuba, and seppa. The saya would have been covered with a leather cover, and a belt ring added. Both have gone missing in the post-war timeframe. Lots of free education available on these sites: THE Japanese SWORD GUIDE (japaneseswordindex.com) Military Swords of Imperial Japan (Guntō) (ohmura-study.net) Master Index for Reference Articles written by Nick Komiya (warrelics.eu) You can read about the stamps on this article: Stamps of the Japanese Sword And lots of other topics here: Member Articles
  19. John, You may have read a post or 2 of mine where I comment that the Nagoya Arsenal didn't seem to have quite as tight quality control as the Tokyo 1st Arsenal. They still had good quality, you just see very slight variances that aren't as prevalent on Tokyo blades. But, their bohi, or fuller groove was open-ended (for lack of better word) compared to the Tokyo bohi. Here is an example of the Nagoya bohi: Whereas, Tokyo bohi have a more distinct shape: Now, having said that, I have actual examples from both arsenals of just the opposite. But they are the exception, not the norm. As to the other types - I have fake 19s, 95s, and 98s on file, but no kaigunto or Rinji seishiki (Type 3). I believe I have seen fake kaigunto, but didn't think to file photos at the time.
  20. I am away from my books, and will look up the smith later, unless someone beats me to it. The fittings obviously had a rough life and the handle (tsuka) has been re-wrapped recently. Still, a legitimate Type 98 in combat saya.
  21. Yasuyo https://en.m.wikiped...wiki/Yasuyo_Yamasaki commander of the Attu raid. I have no idea, but this came up when I searched the name. Maybe the fittings craftsman with numbers in the middle of his name. I don’t see why he would put numbers in the middle of his name, though, instead of after. OK, I’ll sit down and be quiet.
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