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All matching Seppa marked "1"


Corry

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All,  One of my WW2 guntos has all matching seppa marked, "1". I think i am missing one of the 4 tabbed seppa (only one present)..fittings a just a bit loose. Any idea what the, "1" means? Is it 1mm? Here are pics of front and back. Most have what looks like a kanji charachter (Batallion Daitai?) on them as well. Thanks in advance.

 

Best Regards,

Corry

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Edited by Corry
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Hi Durrel,

If you only have 1 of the 4-tab seppa, you are definitely missing one.

 

The stamped "1" is predominantly believed to be put there by the fittings shop.  You will often see matching numbers on all the metal parts and that number ususally matches a painted number on the nakago.  The fact that you have a missing seppa, and that all the seppa that you do have aren't similarly marked, likely means that pieces have been re-fitted at some point along the way.

 

Can we see the rest of the gunto?  The black-painted tsuba is a unique class of its own, being discussed and followed on the Type 95 Black Saya thread.  Officer black-painted gunto are piggy-backed on the thread.

 

One of the Japanese speakers will have to comment on the kanji. 

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8 hours ago, Bruce Pennington said:

Hi Durrel,

If you only have 1 of the 4-tab seppa, you are definitely missing one.

 

The stamped "1" is predominantly believed to be put there by the fittings shop.  You will often see matching numbers on all the metal parts and that number ususally matches a painted number on the nakago.  The fact that you have a missing seppa, and that all the seppa that you do have aren't similarly marked, likely means that pieces have been re-fitted at some point along the way.

 

Can we see the rest of the gunto?  The black-painted tsuba is a unique class of its own, being discussed and followed on the Type 95 Black Saya thread.  Officer black-painted gunto are piggy-backed on the thread.

 

One of the Japanese speakers will have to comment on the kanji. 

 

Bruce, they are all marked 1, pics above. THX!!!

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Durrell,

Thanks for the added pics!  Exactly what I expected - all black coloration.  I'll add these to the Type 95 Black Saya thread.  When we first started noticing these, we assumed it was post-war Bubba paint-job.  But after examining several 95s and 98s, it's clear (to me anyway) it is original and/or theater applied during the war.  You've got a really cool one, congrats!

 

As to replacing the seppa, you'll not fit the original with the "1" stamp.  So, it's a quality-of-life decision for you to make.  Either leave the gunto as-is, with loose fit; or find a replacement and tighten it up.  I personally like to tighten the fit of all my gunto.  I will be keeping my collection until I depart this life, so I'm not concerned about it.  In the life of these gunto, many of them had replacement parts put on during the war.  There is an article by one of the field repair teams on a few NMB threads, that says they had repaired 15,000 swords, most of the damage being on the handles.  So it's not a detractor to your gunto if you add one.

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Thanks Bruce. I'll try to find an orig 4 tab with the correct location for the locking mechanism. Hate to use fleabay..but probably where i'll find one. Are the 4 tab all the same width? I would like the lock to still work and am afraid if too thick, it won't.

 

Does this look legit?

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/265234826502?hash=item3dc13a4506:g:NIQAAOSwIDdcvJYC

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