ShinGunto manufacturer by stamped #

[radiodoc]

I pulled what looks like a ShinGunto out of grandma's attic and wonder if there's a way to identify the manufacturer by the number stamped on the blade. Overall it's in dirty but good condition, except for some surface rust on the blade. Should I clean and polish or leave original?

[Rickisan]

Radio-

Dont forget to leave your name / signature, its a friendly bunch here...and part of the rules.

 

I reccomend you dont try to clean or polishthe blade, or knock any rust off.

 

If possible, post a few pics, and the experts here will lead you in the right direction.

 

Welcome to the gang!

 

Rick

[Stephen]

if it has numbers on the blade its a NCO blade, see this link for more info. http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/military.htm

 

one always wants to stop active rust on a blade. a light oil wiped on then excess off. is the first thing to take care of. As Rick said pic are in order to see what you have.

[radiodoc]

I did a little research and it's a 1945 production with the wood handle and metal sheath. Where the production # is on the sheath it's rusted over so it's hard to determine if the sword and sheath were together but the first 3 numbers of the series match so I have to assume they were. Hard to determine whether the sheath was brown or tan because of the surface rust. Any way to determine which factory produces it by the number? As near as I can make it out it's 21264 or 21284. The leather strap is long gone but this is still kind of a neat relic of a bygone war.

George

[Brian]

George,

 

The serial numbers have no bearing on which arsenal manufactured it. There are tiny stamps usually next to the serial number and on the fuchi that indicate arsenal.

Obviously totally machine made, and not Nihonto. But if it is indeed the wooden handle one with the cross hatching, those do fetch a premium, and can go up to $800 or more sometimes to militaria dealers. If you post a pic we can verify it for you, but info beyond that is unfortunately beyond the scope of our subject here.

 

Brian

[radiodoc]

I'll see if I can find any characters which correspond to the list of companies and will post a couple of pictures when I get a chance. Thanks for the help and suggestions.

George

[Stephen]

from FG

you should find it here