Bruce Pennington

Tony, Are any of the fittings stamped with "1550"? And could I get a shot of the whole gunto?

That one looks more correct. Accurately aged and stitching looks right.

What da heck!? So, I wonder if they were making Army fittings or maybe just in-taking gunto from civil shops to process for the Army?

I’m not bothered by the kikusui. They weren’t stamped, they where each hand made. You can see many variations here:

Maybe @Stegel or @PNSSHOGUN can say for sure. To me it looks like a good reproduction. Here’s a picture of one of mine. You’ll see some differences.

Yes, officer sword. Combat weapon not a dress sword. Someone should be able to translate the smith’s name for you.

Think this is the same anchor as on this reg page? If so, what does the reg say about this anchor? ht Found by @Kiipu on this SFI thread.

His pics over there are better. I'm no mei expert, but I thought the mei was poorly cut, but then I've pooh pooh'ed poor mei before that turned out to be legit. The kikusui looks brand new, but then I think it was just cleaned by who ever did the polish. The date shows better over there too, and is corroded but could be Showa 11, 1936. Was the Shrine producing blades in '36? LINK TO OTHER THREAD

Is that dated Showa 11, 1936? Have you got the smith name?

@michael7, Does this one have numbers stamped on the nakago mune? I have 3 others like this on file, and the one posted by @paul griff HERE has numbers there. @Nobody - Moriyamasan, the guys on Paul's sword, said the company name was "Tōyō Hamono Kabushiki Kaisha saku = Made by Tōyō Knife Co., Ltd. " - I'm taking it that the English version of Toyo Hamono Co is Toyo Knife Co? I found a Toyama Hamono co. online and they called it "cutlery". Am I slicing these words too thin?

Dawson called them "patrolman and sergeant" swords. Fuller called them "mounted police" swords. Fuller described the grip as leather. There was a great variety in styles for these, so I'm not bothered by any of that. What does bother me is that it all looks so new, like it was made yesterday. I suppose someone could have simply given it a really good buff up. I have only seen Type 19s faked once or twice, and never seen a police sword faked. The fakes tend to use obviously poor quality metals, whereas this one looks to have quality metal work. My gut says it's legit.

This is my Kunitoshi tsuka

It's a visual reminder of the number of lives involved in making 1 sword, isn't it!

The aging makes me think island collaborator sword, but the angled tip and the faked kanji point to fakery.

I was surprised at the untarnished condition of the brass fittings.

You'll see some examples of the knotted navy sarute here:

There were some kyugunto with thumb latches. @lonely panet is one of the guys (can't remember who else) specialized in kyu. He would have some background.

Mine had a tiny knot on one end and the other is held by a conical wedge which is inserted into the end of the cord. For some reason, only common to kaigunto, they are tied in a knot externally to the tsuka.

That's it Rob! I couldn't find it, of course using my World-famous horrible searching skills! 3 pages of answers!

I like the way you summarized that! Yes, Chris Bowen has real person-to-person interview testimony from smiths and polishers from the war. I have a feeling we are dancing all around the truth, with the edges of it still a little fuzzy and hard to pin down, like a dim star you cannot see if you stare straight at it. You have to look off to the side to catch sight of it sometimes.

My wife has dibbs on my collection, she knows how much it's worth! Ha! I've made a catalog of the swords, so when she goes to sell them off, she'll be able to list them properly. I also have contact info of a couple of our NMB guys she can contact for advice on how to move them. To be sure, though, I'm certain not a sword would go, as I have to harass her constantly just to get a bag or 2 of crap that's been hoarded in the basement for the last 40 years, off to Goodwill! At first, my gut wish was that the whole lot could be kept together. But I realize that even if each piece were sold separately, they would simply go into the hands of a collector that needed just that piece for the missing item in their own collection. So, I'm not so worried about it anymore.

There's a nice one on @Benji's thread here:

I'm sorry, I did say ito, but I really meant "same'" - what color is that rayskin? Great observation Neil, never noted that before!

Been around enough rodeos to recognize the "kanemasa", but could speak to all the rest. Can I get a good shot of the stamp at the top, Seki maybe? No date on the other side?

Benjamin, That's a nice example of a Gunzoku sword. I can't read the mei, but the hotstamp is of a smith named Kanezane. the stamp is out of focus, but looks to be a Showa stamp. No date on the other side?