kissakai Posted July 17, 2020 Report Posted July 17, 2020 I have the typical naval tsuba and seppa Plain black tsuba Two lage black seppa with sunrays that are alternately, plain then dotted Matching numbers: 296 I've only just noticed there is also a five point star stamped by the number Can I ask what the 5 point star signifies? Quote
ChrisW Posted July 17, 2020 Report Posted July 17, 2020 Well.. on the nakago of a WWII blade, it usually indicates a gendaito. Maybe something having to do with that? Otherwise, I've no idea. I bet bruce knows! Quote
Bruce Pennington Posted July 17, 2020 Report Posted July 17, 2020 Grev, I've only seen this once before. Neil (IJASWORDS) owns it. Could we get a photo? Might want to start tracking this in hopes of figuring out it's meaning. My initial reaction is that it's a shop logo/mark. Here's his, and it's on an IJA tsuba. Quote
kissakai Posted July 17, 2020 Author Report Posted July 17, 2020 Bruce I'll add an image soon. but the image you posted is an exact match Quote
Bruce Pennington Posted July 18, 2020 Report Posted July 18, 2020 Wow, that is identical, even with the "A" under the star! The numbering looks more precise on Neil's example, yet the style of the "2" seems the same on both. Could be the same sword shop. I can't imagine that it's an arsenal inspector's mark, since we have both army and navy here. We've seen arsenal marks on fittings - "東" and "名" - but nothing of joint-use that I can recall. There is a shop known to have made both army and navy fittings, and they even have a star in the center of their logo. I don't know that we can associate the two with this shop as we have an example of their logo in use and they use the whole image, not just the star. We do have an example of a shop that only uses the center of the logo for their stamps, though, so it is possible. Quote
kissakai Posted July 18, 2020 Author Report Posted July 18, 2020 Hi Bruce I was told you were the man to go to - thanks I'm unsure about the examples shown but totally not my field I thought this would be something simple like the Seki arsenal stamp Quote
Bruce Pennington Posted July 18, 2020 Report Posted July 18, 2020 No, you are on the leading edge of a new discovery! Neil‘s example was the first I had ever seen, and yours backs it up. Now we just have to find out who was making them. Quote
Bruce Pennington Posted July 19, 2020 Report Posted July 19, 2020 I ran it by Chris Bowen, and he says it's new to him as well. Quote
george trotter Posted July 26, 2020 Report Posted July 26, 2020 Years ago I had a Type 98 with a good gendai blade and the kashira had a star stamped on it like this one. The star was 'hollow'...not solid punch. It was also 'fat'...not skinny sharp points, but 'rounded'. I also thought it was probably a fittings shop 'brand'. I'm sure I've seen it over the years, just cant remember where/when. Regards, Quote
Bruce Pennington Posted July 26, 2020 Report Posted July 26, 2020 While it's cetainly possible, my gut feel is that it is the Tokyo 1st Army Arsenal star. The one to the right is still "unknown" but strikes me as quite similar to the Mizuno emblem found on some Type 95s. We know Mizuno only made 95s for a short time, and lost the contract, but could have been making koshirae. Quote
george trotter Posted July 27, 2020 Report Posted July 27, 2020 Yes the LHS star is the one I had... Quote
kissakai Posted July 29, 2020 Author Report Posted July 29, 2020 I shouldn't think this helps but it shows the size 1 Quote
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