Weidas

I purchased some swords form Eric. Hope to make some more deals in future. Total pleasure

Thank you, Gilles. Now its clear

Thanks, Thomas, thats exactly what i meant. The second picture from Dawson's?

plus quality difference. But its the first time i see attempt to produce kyu gunto tassels. Maybe anyone has and can share more information about these repros - it'd be good to know what to expect:)

Hello everyone, there is kyu gunto tassel posted in ebay, which i found quite strange: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dl ... TQ:US:1123 it looks close to general grade tassel, but made quite roughly(sorry for my English) to compare with any other kyu gunto tassels i have or have seen. Price for such grade tassels is very low. Too low. i asked Seller if it is original or repro and asked for better pics. His reply was: "Dear vaidas0714, I took more photos and posted them on the listing. i got this from Japan it was in a white box that was falling apart still rapped in packing paper i would think its original but i dont know for sure. it was in a deal where i got a bunch of items in a lot" which confirms nothing i'm almost 100% sure it is repro / fake, however i've never seen kyu gunto tassels fakes before. Maybe any members have more info? thanks&regards

50 bucks for Mantetsu... incredibly low price... check out his other items. If price range is alike i think you should consider whole sale negotiation

Now this is real sense of humor

Mark is right. I have one "brass hilt NCO" as a result of absence of knowledge at the first stages into Japanese militaria... I was luck - paid only little money

do they make also replicas for kyu gunto? some of them - field officers, police officers, not speaking about general officers are very hard to find and i'd be willing to pay good money for quality replicas

i have few, but it would really be easier for you to put pics of your sword here. Plus, Jim Dowson describes police patrol or sergeant swords quite good in his book

it looks like mass produce blade for kyu gunto. If i understand correctly Murata-to were swords, done under supervision of Murata. They were signed accordingly. This one is from serial production. Although it is mistery for me why 2 mekugi ana...

do they offer also kyu gunto tassels? Perhaps it would be interesting to have quality made copies for display purposes. But again, better not if such interest would encourage them to start selling as originals...

if admins of NMB permit(considering that NCO swords are not nihonto), you need to post pictures of whole sword with close ups on tsuka, fuchi, kissaki, drag of scabbard and number on scabbard. There is no need to remove tsuka - it is fixed with bolt and you can easily damage bolt or tsuka itself. There were several private companies who produced NCO swords under supervision of Kokura arsenal. Their stamps must be on fuchi, together with arsenal inspection stamp.

both swords are fakes although the first one have some similarity to Chinese army dress sword. But only similarity. Ernst, if you mean swords of army and official of occupied by Japan territories or puppet kingdoms like Manchkou, than they are totally different. Please, check our Fuller or Dawson again

Can't imagine, but i noted that too(i'm looking to purchase one company grade). But most come from different sellers. I purchased some items from seller you indicated and everything was fine..

however kissaki looks very bad.. somebody put rough hands on it. the pictures are not clear - its almost impossible to see marks and even drag. handle looks OK, but better wait to get it and post good pictures

it more looks like recent Chinese product...

Incredible! Its a pity that shipping of swords from Lithuania is very complicated. i Have one or two swords worth investment on restoration of koshirae...

i can only add this is type 2, sword produced under supervision of Tokyo arsenal. I don't remember company producer... very nice condition.

i saw several on internet. They were referred as police or mounted police swords. Although they are missing police badge and police short swords usually don't have full D guard, they are very similar to police.

Toyokava arsenal made, but realy poor quality koshirae...

the only rarity i see is dagger of colonial service - Formosa. Its swords usually. This one is definitely dress dagger. I would pay for one in such condition $700 appr.. As for this price.. maybe somebody thought the blade s true nihonto?

Jason, be very careful - there were no stamps on habaki on such swords. Only knowing that there is number and arsenal stamp there, i'd say that you are thinking to purchase chinese fake.

sorry, i couldn't put picture with more pixels. will try to crop

Dear All, i would like to ask for your help in identifying which Totomitsu is in this picture - from what i saw in Hawleys there were several who signed this way. Thank you in advance for your comments