Real or fake?

[Brian]

Came up locally asked about in a FB group here. Whenever Japanese swords come up locally I am suspicious as we don’t have a history of them, and many dealers buy from eBay.

I have my suspicions but wanted to run it past the experts here.

Real or fake?

Thanks.

[Bruce Pennington]

Brian,

 

Steve or Ernie may correct me (please do if I'm wrong!!!), but I believe it's a decent replica (fake). No inspector mark on blade, the Gifu and Na stamps are really bad (though, they've gotten darn good with that Kokura stamp!). Another telltale sign is the "sandblasted" texture of the tsuka. I don't think it's legit.

[Brian]

It's also trying to be the copper handled variation?
Will await confirmation before I let them know for sure.

[16k]

Not an expert, but looks fake to me. If I’m not wrong, copper handles used red copper, not brass. Will let the others chime in but looks wrong to me.

[PNSSHOGUN]

One of the better replicas, wouldn't be too bad for re-enacting.

[ROKUJURO]

NAKAGO would probably tell what it is.

[vajo]

Its fake. No question. Look at the stamps and the no and the bad made menuki.

[Dave R]

Brass hilt, 'nuff said.

[drb 1643]

Hi Brian, it's definitely a reproduction. The original copper hilts don't have a screw in the tsuka only the barrel sarute holds the blade intact.

Tom

[Shamsy]

Ignoring everything else, the stamps alone show the sword as a fake. The real 95 stamps are well struck, well spaced and quite attractive. These are horrible imitations.

 

Please feel free to add this example to the fake 95 thread, Brian.

[Shamsy]

Hi Brian, it's definitely a reproduction. The original copper hilts don't have a screw in the tsuka only the barrel sarute holds the blade intact.

Tom

There are legitimate examples of coppers that have a second screw added later. More telling is the incorrect ito pattern.

[Stegel]

It's no good Brian.

[Brian]

Thanks Gents. Pretty much aligns with what I was thinking. But didn't want to make an absolute statement on it to the owner without better confirmation than my own.

[drb 1643]

There are legitimate examples of coppers that have a second screw added later. More telling is the incorrect ito pattern.

Hi Steve, I've never seen a copper hilt with the second screw, could you please post a picture of one? This is why I love this site, you learn something new all the time.

Thank you very much,

Tom

[Shamsy]

Hope Bill doesn't mind me using his photo, but he has posted this on the board before...

 

Seen a couple of these. They have a second screw drilled and the tsuba has been replaced with a plain iron one, but of the correct thickness. The coppers all had thicker tsuba than later patterns, so an ordinary iron tsuba wouldn't fit, though there are a few rare examples of pattern 5 with thicker tsuba, but I digress.

 

There was one for sale in UK a few years ago, but the asking price was beyond stupid, even for a rare and valuable copper, not to mention the missing saya, so I happily passed it up without regrets (rare to not regret missed swords nowadays).

[drb 1643]

Thank you very much Steve.

Tom

[Bruce Pennington]

I've also learned to be cautious about labeling a "brass" looking tsuka as fake. I own a Nagoya side-latch whose tsuka has oxidized into a brassy looking finish. You can see the original aluminum coloration on the edges where wear kept the oxydation rubbed off, but from a distance, it looks like a brass tsuka.

 

But witht the fakes, there will be more signs of fakery than simply the tsuka color, as in this one.

[tbonesullivan]

This is a picture of a real Type 95 NCO sword, with a close up of the markings on the blade. Note the scabbard color, as well as the distance the hanger ring is from the mouth of the scabbard. Also, the tang will have two holes, a large and a small. If the tang only has one hole, it's a fake.

[tbonesullivan]

This, on the other hand, is definitely a fake. Note the fake age on the blade, the black paint on the scabbard, and the blade markings that look engraved, not stamped.

[Shamsy]

Blade patina varies extensively, so that's a poor indication of fakes. Black saya are period, (though not original) so that too is a poor indication. The font of the numbers is a far better indication of authenticity than trying to determine whether they are stamped or carved. The distance of the hanger ring on the saya varies, so again, not a good indication of whether a sword is genuine. One must look holistically at the sword to determine what can be considered 'fake' or otherwise. I still recommend that should anyone be in doubt, make reference to the thread we have regarding fake 95s which has a number of examples of the various details that give these swords away.