Is this a "He"?

[Bruce Pennington]

Posted on the Arsenal Stamps thread, a new one on me. The owner, Alex, believes it to be the hiragana "He", but it doesn't have the same shape of the He stamps I've seen to date.

 

Thanks for the help!

 

 

Post #436, here: http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/5999-arsenal-stamps/page-15

[ROKUJURO]

Could it be a HACHI (eight, 八)?

[SteveM]

It's not a へ (he). へ is written as a single line, with no break in the center. I agree it could be 八 (hachi). 

[Bruce Pennington]

That was my initial reaction too, hachi, but I have the same reservations about that as well. While this is 2 strokes, the tops should be parallel for hachi, not one over the other. Was there that much lattitude in personal style to allow such a variation?

 

Another idea is that this is a personal mark, like a hot stamp or haikan. Was there a smith who's name started with 八? I have found some blades marked with the first kanji of the smith's name.

 

[uwe]

Apart of “八”, “入” might also be a possibility....who knows?!

[Bruce Pennington]

Apart of “八”, “入” might also be a possibility....who knows?!

Uwe,

That has potential! What does that mean?

[ROKUJURO]

人 = person, NIN as in SHOKUNIN = craftsman/craftsperson, or JÛNIN = resident of...

[Bruce Pennington]

After seeing the options I enlarged the pic. You can see the original cut, and it looks like Uwe’s kanji.