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Can someone help identify this sword?


Misconstrued

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In Japan? That would be very unusual since this looks to be a Model 1840 "Wristbreaker" Cavalry sword, which was made in the US before and commonly issued during the American Civil War.

If you look VERY closely at the ricasso (the part of the blade closest to the guard), you'll probably see a manufacturers mark. Either Ames, Horstman, Tiffany, Pettibone; if unmarked, then it is likely a European (most likely German) import model. The Japanese never manufactured blades like these, so if it was brought back from Japan, then that'd be quite a journey to go from here to Japan and then back again in the span of a century.

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Thank you for clarity it isn't Japanese! I thought it wasn't due to seeing others like this, but I'm not really sure with non-traditional swords. I think this is just another sword he owned and not the one he spoke of. If this is the sword he spoke of, then that's a whole story in itself!

 

-Jace

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Well, even though it is not Japanese and its not going to carry a ton of value, some basic things you can do would be to:

Gently soap and water it then dry it, wipe it down with some high grade pure alcohol (electronics grade is my go-to), then oil the blade with some kind of non-abrasive oil, that is a TON of red rust.

Store it in a place that is dry and out of sunlight.

Leave the actual restoration work to professionals! It won't likely be worth the money (as in you won't make money) but if you're passionate about it, you can spend the money to have a professional do it. I would check out some civil war item forums online and see as to the consensus as to who is their go-to.

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1 hour ago, PNSSHOGUN said:

With that amount of active rust....even after removal it's likely the steel underneath is badly pitted & corroded. Best to follow the advice from Chris to stop the active rust and keep it as a family relic.



Very true, but you'd be surprised how thick some of those Model 1840's can be! They aren't called "Old Wristbreaker" for nothing.

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At first glance, i immediately thought Type 8 NCO, then i noticed the back strap on the handle to be a bit odd, so checked Dawson's book.

There were actually 5 variations in the Type 8. This is actually NOT one of them, however, apparently the model 1860 was imported into Japan.

It Does look very similar to this, so let's not give up on Granpa too quickly just yet, these imported swords had Japanese 'acceptance' stamps on the ricasso, this one may have also.

Jace, please give the ricasso area a clean and see what may or may not be there.

As Chris said, this is the area where you would find makers marks etc.

 

This model was not copied by the Japanese, however, other very similar imports from Germany (Clemen and Jung) were copied and issued.

The models shown in Dawsons seem to only have one hanger on the scabbard, so not like the one Victor showed us.

Here's some info from Dawson's...

 

IMG_5234.jpg

IMG_5235.jpg

IMG_5236.jpg

IMG_5237.jpg

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