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Help needed with mei


Matthew Seguin

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Thanks John, 

 

I've had it for decades actually. It was given to me as a gift, so I honestly don't know much of anything about it. Obviously I would love for it to be real but right now I'm just having fun learning and investigating. 

 

I've always assumed that if it were real that it was likely to be WWII era. There is some small damage to the blade which appears to show the folded steel and it also looks like it was broken in half at one point (around 1/2" from the Habaki) and then welded back together again. So even if it were real I'm sure its value is non-existent at this point. 

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Matthew,

 

This is a Chinese replica of a katana. Japanese swords (Nihonto) would never have had a blade surface that looked like your pictures. In my opinion, this was an attempt to make the hamon (hardened edge) appear to have splashing waves and appear artful. To some people, this may look appealing and cute and may work as a cheap tourist piece. To sum up, the only similarity to an actual nihonto is the overall shape of the blade....from a far distance. From 10 feet away, most of us would recognise that it is NOT a Japanese sword.

Best Wishes,

Dan

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