Bruce Pennington

Sorry, but the only other stamps are "6 2" matching the tsuba & seppa. No "M".

Interesting. And I couldn't find the gunto for sale. In the description of the sarute, under Country of manufacture, the seller says "unknown."

Julien, that is quite remarkable! I believe you've outdone Neil. Is the blade a custom/high quality blade? With the crest on the end of the sarute, it makes me wonder if the deer and (tiger?) meant something to the family.

Grey, Think they'd be interested in reading a recap of our discoveries in the Mantetsu world?

Well, I see what you mean! You couldn't fill that gap with even a couple of thick seppa. It's certainly a cool saya though, worth keeping.

Well, Neil, you never cease to amaze! Your serial number is "い" (hiragana for "I") 1170 and is only found on 1945 blades, so your observation about the year was spot-on. I agree the entire nakago, and the kesho yasurime are classic Mantetsu. But no mei! Your "desperado" label may be true too, as the serial number is the highest I've seen. All our '45s so far are 3-digit numbers. This COULD be one of the last Mantetsu made!!! That would be a real find, wouldn't it! The fittings are even "unique-er" than any of that style you've shown us before. Specifically, that ashi is something I haven't seen before. Yes, the band I've seen, but the part where the ring attaches to the band seems unique. Well, one for the record books. I'll add this to the Mantetsu Study files.

Ha???? We do have a similar sentiment: “all d - -ked up”.

Stephen, that's great, I'm glad! I sure wish I knew the thread where a similar blade was posted with that exact same stamp!!!

I've done some more looking into the Mantetsu posted in #463. I now feel that all the parts are original except the kabutogane, sayajiri, sarute, and one seppa. Oh, and the ito is new. So I don't think anything was really done to this that I didn't do, myself, to my Dad's Mantetsu. I looks really good. I'm posting now in the For Sale thread.

Ron, I mentioned the Type 8 and Type 19 on the Kyu Corner thread. The set also came with a Type 95 that I want to look over before posting, just haven't had the chance yet. I have a nice Mantetsu I'm posting today in the For Sale section, and have another Mantetsu coming in the mail, a '39 Koa Isshin.

Ha! Didn't see Kenny's reply before I posted. And just for those without the book, Dawson says the bare backstrap is of the "Hannin" rank. Hannin were the NCO equivilent of the Gunzoku, the civilian branch of the military. They wore uniforms but were civilians doing work such as diplomats, teachers (Takayama was a Gunzoku), etc and had distinctive rank/patches.

Phil, What causes you to think it's put-together? The saya is interesting with that second loop. It looks to me like something added to make it sling over the back. There are severl pictures of troops carrying their swords over their back.

Adam, I know almost nothing about horimono, so take what I say with a grain of salt. But I see this like any art form - you have craftsmen from one end of the spectrum to the other making swords just as any other profession. Maybe this guy wasn't the Picaso of the gunto world, but he was doing his best. The fittings are higher-end fittings (judging by the gorgeous tsuba), so the officer that bought this put some extra money into the piece. It is quite above the norm for officer gunto.

Hamish, I won't say yet, since you're waiting, but Dawson says the handgrip is always white. Is this like everything else - variations exist?

Wow Hamish! Dawson said there was a great amount of variation in these. Clearly he wasn’t kidding! Brian, would it be difficult to merge my posts into his thread? It’s much more significant than this one.

I never noticed the length variations in these until now (I can see them in Thomas' navy collection above now that I'm noticing!) and quality variations in the handle-work. Just got a Type 8 and a 19 in that batch of 4 gunto. The 19 is longer by almost 2 inches Type 8 full length - 35 1/2 Type 19 " " - 37 1/4 The acid-etched hamons vary quite a bit too. The one on the 19 actully attempted to have some art in it. The shop that made the 19 put more work into all the artwork on the handle. Comparisons below. I'll post these for sale soon. I'd love to keep one, but since i took that hit on the fake 98, I can't afford to keep them.

Duuuuude!

Sold the blade & habaki today, thanks for the suggestions guys! I'll post the koshirae along with a lone leather cover (that I know is legit) in the For Sale Section tomorrow.

Dave,I don't think they sell that way, though, I really don't know. I assume the items are sold by the way they were acquired. Some auctions are on commision, some are estate purchases.

My foray into buying/selling is coming with the expected learning curve experiences. Bought a set of 4 gunto at an auction site (one that I like and trust, though their clientele tend to drive the prices to the top of the market). The one that looked like, in the single photo, a civil sword remounted in combat saya - turned out to be a pure fake. GRRRRrrrrr! The Type 95, Type 8, and Type 19 are legit (I'll post the kyu on Kyu Corner soon!) After chatting with their Customer service rep, she pointed out that the label of the items all included the words "samurai style". It's a phrase used by her staff if they don't really know if it's legit or not. She assured me I am free to request more photos on items in the future that I want more info on, and gave me a $100 credit to my account. SO, I'll take a hit on that one. Hopefully I can sell it cheap as a "Wall Hanger" and cut my loss a tad. Interesting stamp on the nakago, though, that I'm pretty sure I've seen recently on another fake posted on the forum. Must be the same Chinese shop.

To Peter's point - all of us are like gunto variants. He wishes we could all be uniform and perfectly fit the mil-specs, but in reality, we are all variations off the design. We just aren't all nihonto experts that study smiths and schools. I learned early on that I had neither the interest or the time to get into that sort of depth. So I found I loved the WWII gunto, the stamps, and Mantetsu. So, if I ever come across a real, nice old nihonto, I'll be one of those "newbies" posting on Translation Assistance for the needed help. And I know there will be great folks there who will lend a hand and spoon-feed me! I also found I enjoy helping/coaching the newbies. That in itself is just another "calling" if you will. If there were no newbies, then the whole world of collecting would die when we all kick off. I have noticed more comments, lately, from names I've never noticed before, so I think the lock-down has generated more knowledgable input as well as newbies.

I like your summary of the situation Jareth.

Phil, Your gunto is the Contingency model, formulated from the Type 98 officer gunto. Originated in 1938, but didn't hit the streets until 1940. Often called the "late war" because they most commonly have '44 blades in them for some reason. You can read more about them here: http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/Japanese-militaria/deflating-another-myth-type-3-army-officera-s-sword-expanded-version-584796/ The stamp, like Grey indicated means the blade was not made "in the traditional way", which could mean any of 8 different ways. The smith making it might very well have been skilled, but due to the demand of needing hundreds of thousands of swords for the war, most were made, even by skilled smiths, in non-traditional, ways that expidited mass production. Many skilled smiths would still produce a traditional blade now and then.

Sometimes you will see a single charactor, a "bonji" - BONJI (SANSCRIT) Some blades with have a single kanji, written in sanscrit, that have meaning or significance in Buddhist beliefs. They were likely added at the request of the customer, either during manufacture, or some sometime after. These are “normally” found on the blade, but can be found on the nakago.

Chris, Company grade (Lts & Capts) - Brown/Blue Field grade (Majs & Cols) - Brown/Red General grade - Brown/Red/Gold