bearlybeans

Hi, Thank You all for the replies! it's very interesting to be able to nail down a blade to a time period and maker (or signer) on it. There is no markings on the other side of the tang, just the file marks done very neatly in a V pattern. i will try to get several more good pictures of the blade and fittings, although they are standard army fittings. The handle is sharkskin or rayskin under cord wrapping, with the standard flower menuki. No other numbers are present on anything. kind of a oblong solid brass tsuba with no decoration. It has a fine temper line, but there is always a bad, it has a chip out of the blade about 10 inches from the handle attempting to measure it looks to be about 1/8 inch deep and 3/8 inch long sloping up and back down.. kinda like a "gentle hill" rising up and back down.. lol. . Not being a perfectionist it does not bother me much, but i realize it devalues it quite a bit. I believe what I like most about this is it has not been touched, meaning refinished, polished, etc.. just to me it looks to be a good honest example of a wartime carried sword.

Hello, new member here, frequent lurker. I found a fairly nice sword in WW2 army style fittings, and once the handle was off, found this under. ' the top character looks like a butterfly to me, being a untrained newbie. also i thought the plugged hole with a new drilled hole was interesting. Please forgive my ancient camera and poor skills. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance! Matt