Minseito1941

Am I going crazy or is there a faint star stamp under the rust?

I am an amateur on nihonto so please excuse me but I was wondering if these very fine lines are hada or just scratches. Its hard to capture on camera so please bear with me

For only 50$ it in my opinion is still an interesting piece from a historical standpoint of when the Japanese Empire joined the western nations

There is a fault on the Nakago where it would meet the habaki so I am inclined towards an older blade with a fault quickly pawned off to unsuspecting tourists

Seems like this one

After researching this seems like what it is. Possibly early rather than late Meiji to explain the patina but otherwise everything checks out.

Tourist piece possible but low quality would be a disservice I feel

Please ignore the large amount of oil on the blade

The hamon looking fake is my picture being bad sorry. I can try to take better pictures tomorrow under the sun but the hamon is genuine and not acid etched. The tsuka has a 六 kanji under the fuchi as well so I am thinking it was remounted in new fittings

Any hints on a potential timeframe the blade was forged?

Mekugi-ana also looks to be punched

I’m assuming the tape was to hold the blade in the tsuka since the mekugi has been lost to time