A Dunne

The tsuka absolutely needs those spacers for the mekugi to line up. The fit isn't particularly tight between the tang (nakago?) and the tsuka. As for the cutout in the saya:

Thanks for the replies. The sword fits in the saya good and tight, I can hold it inverted and shake it - within reason - and it stays put. Here are photos of both sides of the tang and the mix of seppa - in the order I found them - along with the plain iron tsuba. The piece furthest left is a piece of leather cut to fit.

I was given this sword; I have no idea what is going on with it, as the mounts are corroded, but the blade looks like it was cleaned at some point. The wrap is dirty from years of being handled, but this was its state when it was bought about 25 years ago. Since then, it has been stored away in its leather/bamboo saya. There's only a single stamp on the tang and no markings anywhere else. Sorry about the rubbish photos; I'm freehanding it with a phone. Anyone have an explanation of what this is? Is it a collection of random parts? It has seppa with the notch cut for a scabbard lock, which the sword doesn't have. The saya has a cutout like it was intended for a side lock. I don't think it's visible on the photos, but there's a dark smear along the edge where you would expect to see a hamon. Is it an attempt at faking one or a bad cleaning job?

I got that sword. It'll take a while to get to me because Customs automatically detain swords here. I'll have to prove it's original for it to be released.

They're the same pics as on HiBid, but they were saving as .webp files, so I screenshot them. It might not do much for the image quality, but they're not the highest-resolution pictures to begin with.

Is it too clean? Not much patina to go on.

I did not need to see that just as I'm eyeing up a late-war Type 95, or is it a Type 2026!?

I'm not sure what to call them, and didn't want to annoy anyone with the wrong term. As far as I'm concerned, if someone is trying to pass it off as the real deal, it's a fake.

It's a fake for sure, it's exactly the same sword as Marcin posted earlier. I thought I was putting up something new until I read back a few posts. A nice feature on Liveauctioneers would be the ability to blacklist places. I wouldn't buy anything off Kavanaghs now, as I know they either can't tell a newly manufactured replica from the real thing or they're purposely trying to move fake goods. Either way, that thing would be seized by customs here. Is it worth even messaging these places, telling them they have a replica/fake?

I'm actually more miffed that their shipping dept. never returned my message. I collect enough stuff that there's always something looking to consume my cash, but I'll put an auctioneer on the naughty list for ignoring me.

I just came on here to post this sword, kind of disappointed I didn't find it first, although the write-up is different. https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/233924001_japanese-wwii-military-sword-type-95-shin-gunto-montreal-quebec

The sword in my first post went for $900, I wan't able to bid in the end because the auctioneer never replied to say whether they would ship to Ireland or not.

I'd pay more than that at auction, including the hammer, the premium, shipping, and customs/VAT here in Ireland. I understand the urge to hold on to the rare ones. I'd make a terrible antiques dealer for this reason.

That document is pure gold! Which auction houses would you consider to be reliable? I have my favourite auction houses for militaria, American Civil War era firearms, and other areas I collect in, but not a place that's specifically popular with the Japanese sword collector. That downloadable pdf

Thanks for confirming my mistrust. Would the good condition - or even existence - of the leather also be considered a tell?