Bruce Pennington

Is that on a Mantetsu Barry?

Kent, is that a large Seki stamp at the top? If so, could I get a clear shot of it?

That was quite interesting, thanks Omar!

That's a legit set. @PNSSHOGUN could probably give you a better idea about standard thicknesses.

I agree. Nothing like it in F & G. You can see on the guard, there are 32 alternating rays with notched ends. The closest Fuller had was a 32 ray cap emblem for Military and Civil Police full dress uniform, but the pattern was different. There is a similar patterned 16-ray emblem for Civil police Inspectors (and above?). The kyugunto from this era were widely varied in patterns. It would not surprise me that there was just as much variation in police sabres.

Durrel's (Corry) saya:

Durrell, Thanks for the added pics! Exactly what I expected - all black coloration. I'll add these to the Type 95 Black Saya thread. When we first started noticing these, we assumed it was post-war Bubba paint-job. But after examining several 95s and 98s, it's clear (to me anyway) it is original and/or theater applied during the war. You've got a really cool one, congrats! As to replacing the seppa, you'll not fit the original with the "1" stamp. So, it's a quality-of-life decision for you to make. Either leave the gunto as-is, with loose fit; or find a replacement and tighten it up. I personally like to tighten the fit of all my gunto. I will be keeping my collection until I depart this life, so I'm not concerned about it. In the life of these gunto, many of them had replacement parts put on during the war. There is an article by one of the field repair teams on a few NMB threads, that says they had repaired 15,000 swords, most of the damage being on the handles. So it's not a detractor to your gunto if you add one.

Another Type 98 (right now just tsuba pics) from @Corry's thread All Matching Seppa Marked 1.

Hi Durrel, If you only have 1 of the 4-tab seppa, you are definitely missing one. The stamped "1" is predominantly believed to be put there by the fittings shop. You will often see matching numbers on all the metal parts and that number ususally matches a painted number on the nakago. The fact that you have a missing seppa, and that all the seppa that you do have aren't similarly marked, likely means that pieces have been re-fitted at some point along the way. Can we see the rest of the gunto? The black-painted tsuba is a unique class of its own, being discussed and followed on the Type 95 Black Saya thread. Officer black-painted gunto are piggy-backed on the thread. One of the Japanese speakers will have to comment on the kanji.

Don't you love the "silver overlaid grip"!!! Maybe they haven't ever heard of silver colored paint? They even got the serial number wrong in the description.

A 3rd - the "Wa" listed in Fuller & Gregory. They said "'Wa' stamp. Probably indicates manufacture in an occupied area, most likely by a collaborating force. Found on poor quality rolled or hammered blades." Fuller's evaluation may also apply to the first two stamps, as they may be marks put there by Japanese teams supervising forges run by occupied forces.

The tassel is interesting too:

Here's another listed on fleabay, found by @mecox:

There have been a couple or 3 attempts in the reference books to estimate the total number of swords confiscated after the war. According to Richard Fuller, "official American estimate of swords and sabres taken in the south-west Pacific and Japan gives 661,621 captured and surrenederd. ... Some 372,609 were disperesed as trophies, to museums and technical use. The remaining 289,012 were destroyed. The true figure for swords of all types, taken by the Allied nations must be well inexcess of 2,000,000 (but excludes those kept hidden and retained by the Japanese population). Destruction was normally by furnace after cutting in half. Another way was to dump them at sea from barges or garbage scows." Japanese Military and Civil Swords and Dirks, pgs 248-249

I'd like to start collecting the stamps that are showing up on these swords made in occupied territories. There are 2 that are recurring, that I know of. One is found on @Yoshimichi's thread HERE. And look like this: Yoshimichi's blade: @Stegel's blade: The other is the "KI", which is known to be intended for use by the Second Factory Kokura Army Arsenal. For now, I feel it's not likely to be an inspector stamp, as it's large, fat, coarsely made, unlike all other known Japanese arsenal inspector stamps. But it's more inline with the style and workmanship of the first stamp above. Here's one on a Java sword: I'm thinking these might be logo stamps of an island forge. But they could be something @Kiipu and @BANGBANGSAN have been working on, like a field repair team mark. I invite all who have more examples of these, or other stamps not yet discussed, to add them here. For comparison, here is one I believe actually is a Second Factory inspector stamp:

Thank you Steve! If you can bear with me a bit longer - it seems to be the small Seki, but hard to say for sure without a broader picture for perspective. The large Seki looks like this: Is yours smaller than that?

Whether Japanese or any other nationality, Traditionally made blades sell for more money than non-traditionally made blades. So by removing the stamp a seller has the chance of getting more money out of an unsuspecting buyer.

I think @Kiipu and @PNSSHOGUN are the guys to ask on this.

Could I get a good picture of it?

Well the most resilliant form of RS are the ones discussed on @IJASWORDS thread Manchurain Rinji Seishiki Sword. There's almost nothing there to damage except the ito, and I'd have that lacquered. (his examples are not).

Steve, Any chance there is a stamp up above the mei, or is that just staining/discoloration?

Dave, If you're referring to my remarks about someone defacing the stamp - no worries my friend. After your updated photos, it's clear that it's simply corrosion. A great many gunto have corrosion as they spent a few years in wet, tropical climates.

My vote would echo John - Koa Issin blade in RS mounts. The lacquered ito version. Gunto seen today with damage is almost always the ito. For a Bansai charge, I would use the lightest gunto available, so probably a Type 95. It's only good for waving around before you die, so why worry about the blade type?

Another found by 26Intrepid, HERE at Warrelics. Seems to have cosmoline on the blade, though it could just be old, dirty grease.

Thanks Stephen, that's the original one! And thanks to all for the info. I'll update the Stamps Doc with the smith names.