Lareon

Yes I'm really unsure what has gone wrong in this whole process and thought it was a one time stupid mistake on the part of border force. It seems to not be an isolated case so I'm unsure what has happened as i have imported many times before. I must be on some kind of blanket black list now...

Update for everyone. Well I tried to contact border force and resolve the issue outside of the court but that has been to no avail even with a ton of documentation and evidence they have not replied. Unfortunately I have had a second package seized with 4 items in, 3 traditional old blades and one mantetsu. Due to this I will most likely be stopping collecting in the manner I have been and only purchase from the UK. the total value of my seized packages now amounts to $10k I must be on some kind of list because I made sure everything was absolutely perfect with this one. I'm not really sure what else to say except I will update on the outcome of Both cases as I will also be pursuing this one too. Best of luck collecting everyone, I will still be lurking around but wont have anything new to show until the outcome of these cases as I wont be buying anything more for now.

There's a couple shown briefly in "empire of the sun" I don't have a screen capture though I just remember seeing them

Aha! Thank you for the link. This is the exact sword in question!

The blade is in rather poor condition but here are a few close ups

Hi all. I found a gunto that had a leather saya with this sticker attached. I was wondering what it said? Some kind of sticker from the military? My first thought was a shop sticker So far I have a few parts closed on Sunday Shin gunto first class exterior Paulownia wood. (I guess the saya) ishikawa prefecture ? sword army hall I don't have any other photos of it in afraid and I've already put it through Photoshop to straighten it out a little.

This was attached to the saya of the sword

Hi guys, I was wondering if anyone could give me a very rough age on what they think this could be. It's in real bad shape though

The heavy chain hanger for my Kai gunto.

I know this sword, it has a seki stamp on it but it's mounts aren't quite right, fuchi isn't a standard gunto fuchi. I didn't bother to translate the mei but it does have one, the mei has red rust in it if i remember but i can't remember much else

Nah I'm not getting legal representation, quite happy to do it myself and not nervous. Just indignant. I wrote a nice little essay that I sent to borderforce with a good selection of references, pictures, source material from books etc. Hammering the point home that it's legal to import. Still not sure why there can't be some more communication to sort this out without a court proceeding but fine. I'm guessing they won't drop it even with the evidence I sent and are going to waste everyone's time. The simple fact is, it is legal to import, it's provable on many fronts and it's easy to argue a case where you are right and have evidence on your side. I don't really expect to be awarded anything from the court but if I get something I'll spend it on importing another sword...

My black painted 95 for inclusion in the thread. Barely any damage to the paint

Yes black saya with a fair bit of paint loss suguha hamon. I'll take some photos later of it all. It passed hands quickly!

My badly treated mantetsu for you @Bruce Pennington Sadly someone's been chopping at things with it.

Cheers everyone, It's in now, I was being far too gentle with it!

Maybe i'm just being too gentle, i could not slot it through

£750 is the average price for an NCO in the UK at the moment, a little more sometimes, this tallys well with american prices

I've seen a few threads on the Sarute for the Type 3 but i've gathered the following 1. the sarute can be cloth 2. the sarute can be an unadorned metal loop 3. no sarute and the tassel threaded through the hole. (ana?) I tried to insert a tassel into the Sarute hole as it is missing any form of sarute, it clearly doesn't fit in the slightest. does anyone have an example of this working?

yes i didn't appreciate the parts of the letter trying to scare me financially into giving up, If i win i will ask for the same amount they are using against me in compensation £2500

Yup my thinking exactly. The only doubt in my mind is if they argue that it was legal to sieze for some other reason like the documents weren't exactly what they wanted or needed or something similar. Since I'm not contesting the items being legal to import I'm contesting the legality of the seizure. Feels a little loose especially as there was no concrete reason for the seizure. Since the police were sent to me about importing "illegal swords" I think this gives me a basis that that is the reason. I spent a fair bit of last night writing documentation with sources from swords of Imperial Japan and others etc. Will drop a line to token at some point and get a statement too. I was hoping if bombard them with evidence they will drop it but I fear that won't be the case and it will go all the way to court now.

Received my response from border force. So will await my court summons in the next few months

The hamon looks like it was drawn with crayon

Just a quick note, it's best not to put your sword on a concrete floor/ hard surface of you don't want to damage it or scratch it.

Thanks stegal!