jawob

Good point Sam, I had forgotten that dress swords have mon. Have seen quite a few older blades in Gunto fitting with mon.

Hope this is relevant, what about mon on the tsuka and better blades?

Robert, To clear up the confusion USMC swords made in Japan are all post WW2. In my previous post I was speaking of the colleciabilty of USMC mamelukes in general. The earlier the better, as the USMC was very small prior to WW2. Post war swords are very common.

Interesting! I assume former IJA smiths, switched sides, sort a speak. Smart business move.

John, Do you know if any of these swords for US service members were traditionally made?

Hi Robert, You probably have a USMC Mameluke, officers sword. While your era sword is collectable it is much less so than pre WW2 era Mamelukes. WW2 and post are very common. I'm sure it is etched with the Marines name and that may hold some interest as there are many collectors who research service records. Try https://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ for some opinions, as that forum is geared towards US military items.

Brian, Talk about "baptized by fire". Keep us updated on your journey to shinsa. You will probably catch the 'nihonto bug' after this or rip your hair out

NCO sword. There will be no signature on nakago(hilt). Someone more in the know will chime in.

Bumping this. I happened to stumble on this thread. Amazing and valuable comments!

Bummer, I was in Florence in April and had no idea about this museum

Just wanted to make sure before improving my discus throwing

Thanks for the replies. I agree that this is brass and looks to have been laquered at some point as well. The sword that came with this koshirae is late edo, would cast brass tsuba be found in this era?

Jean, No feelings hurt and glad you chimed in. Also glad that you confirm my own thoughts that this is a strange tsuba but the mei looks like good work? To the scrap pile?