Bruce Pennington

And I'd say it's upside down?

John, http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8079933&posted=1#post8079933 Check this out:

YES, it was the first one!

It's a Type 98 Officer sword in leather-wrapped combat saya (scabbard). The white plastice-looking material in the handle, under the silk wrap is called celluloid, a man-made replacement for the stingyray skin that is normally there, but fairly commonly found on officer swords. Don't be afraid to remove the handle like Jean says. Most likely there will be a swordsmith name imprinted on the tang (nakago). Take the picture with the blade tip pointed up and tang pointed down so it can be read easily. There may be writing on both sides, so post them both if so. Check for a small stamp, if there, at the top of the tang. Also, please give pics of the tip of the blade and a section of the middle. Shots of the handguard and spacers once off, and a closeup of the metal tip on the handle are useful.

Steve, I JUST saw one, but for the life of me I can't remember where it was. Seems like it was on a Facebook group, but a quick brows through didn't turn it up. It's the first one I'd seen in Rinji mounts.

Yes, it would cause caution. But all the parts look legit. I think someone just thought they could "pretty it up" with the paintjob.

Quite beautiful - I've never seen a tsuba painted like that. I wonder if that was done post-war? Also, I thought sharkskin had diamond-like shapes, and eel-skin has the round shapes. But very nice.

The black-laquered saya and belt-loop (ashi) are made for a leather cover. The covers tended to take a beating and are often missing by the time we get them. There is nothing wrong with adding a seppa or more, as long as they are WWII legit itmes. My dad's Mantetsu came with no seppa or tsuba! I bought some from a Japanese dealer on fleabay and it's now quite beautiful!!! Blades were often refitted from civi to military and back. They often got replacement parts from repair teams throughout the war. Don't hesitate to find a suitable replacement.

Thanks for the update! There was a wait-list for them during the war.

Ok, I checked - the tsuba is steel!

That's interesting Chris! I had never heard what it's made of, thanks! Thanks for the pics Brandon. So my stuff looks like the steel tsuba, coated with other stuff then, because they clearly don't look like the coopper in those pics. I'll try the magnet later today, but I suspect it will work out like Chris' experience. Thanks guys! Interesting discussion and discovery.

This is an old pic of the tsuba. When I get time, I'll take a file to the nakago ana and see what I find.

Kyle, yours looks like one I have so I checked, and mine has the same copper color. I haven’t tried to test it to see if it’s actually copper. Mine has the same plastic same’ and saya color.

John, After a brief perusal of Dawson's book, he has a couple of examples, one a Type 8 and the other a court blade, that have serious blades like yours. Both were custom made, but he seemed more focused on the fittings rather than the blade. Fuller & Gregory state: "The blade was down to the owner's choice and may often be of some age, being reused from older samurai swords. Contemporary oil-temered or hand-forged gendaito can also be found but are in the tradtional shinogi-zukuri form."

That is what interesting, isn’t Stephen! The Mantetsu run the gamut on price. In good condition they tend to be at the higher end of officer gunto prices, $1,400-2,400 USD. I have seen them go for $3,600 and higher. Poor ones have sold at bottom end like any other gunto.

That's a good one Steve!!! My first reply didn't work, as I was trying to use the keyboard laughing emoji. This is odd because there is another thread where this dealer was getting good reviews. He either copied & pasted the wrong paragraph on the item description or clearly doesn't know what he is doing. But that would be odd because the guys that like him say he sells hundreds of swords.

Seems like I've seen something like this discussed somewhere. I think it was a blade presented to someone, like at a school, or factory, or something.

Steve (Shamsy) says the best ones are coming our of Poland. He showed some pics that, had he not told me it was a fake, I would have been fooled.

????????❤️

Shamsy or Stegel are the go-to guys on Type 95s, and they may correct me on this - but there were NO Seki stamped 95s. The tsuka has that course "sand-blased" look, polished to hide it. Numbers are typed with cutting edge up, like a Nagoya Arsenal blade, but no arsenal stamp on the blade or fuchi. Lousy seppa work. What is that inside the holes of the tsuba? It looks like wood! Dot pattern on the face of the tsuba is wrong. It would be good to see the blade tip, but I've seen enough. A weak attempt at reproducion/fakery.

Good luck! Let me know if you find anything on it!

Brad, hopefully a real translator will chime in (otherwise I'd take it to the Translation help forum on this site), but I agree. It looks more like "Bushu" to me.

Ok, I see that, but have no idea what caused it. Don't think that is common, as you asked, but I don't see it as a problem either.

I'm not sure what you mean by wear/ware under the habaki. Do you mean those horizontal lines?

That's gorgeous Brad! Your collection is growing! Saw your post on the stamp. All I can say is the list of "unknowns" is growing. Thanks for adding it to the Stamps thread.