Nice Nagoya Type 95 Side-latch Auction

[Bruce Pennington]

Thought I'd put this out there, in case one of our guys could pick it up.

 

Not many know this, but there were only about 4,000 of the side-latch 95s made compared to the over 6,000 of the copper handles.  So, numberically, the side-latch is more rare than a copper.

 

Auction found here: Centurian Auction - HIBID link

[rebcannonshooter]

Hey Bruce, I have a Nagoya Type 95 side latch, with a serial number in the 133000 range with a "NA" stamp. The way the bo-hi of my sword starts and ends is very similar to the one in the action, as well as other details of the sword. I believe the auction sword is absolutely genuine. But, I guess my curiosity is, why does the auction sword have a "seki" stamp? I thought production of these were only from Nagoya. You've done a lot of research on these so can you share what's the story?  

Thanks in advance, Tom

[Bruce Pennington]

8 hours ago, rebcannonshooter said:

why does the auction sword have a "seki"

Something I've never pursued, Thomas, interesting question.  You see the same thing on the wooden handled 95s, too.  Maybe @Kiipu Thomas has serial number ranges on two stamps?  Really @Stegel or @Shamsy are the guys to ask.  Neither are hanging out at NMB much lately.  I'll check with them via email to see if they know.

 

In the meantime, since these have steel fuchi, it's hard to see a shop stamp on them.  When visible, though, the only shop I've seen is the Seki Token Co.  My chart only tracks stamp use on officer blades, so I don't know how relevant it is to the 95s.  But you can see that the use of the "Na" stamp was heavy in '43, tapered off in '44, and gone in '45; whereas, the small "Seki" began in '43, was heaviest in '44, and tapered in '45.  So, it might be as simple as these blades might have been made in '43-'44 when both stamps were being used as they transitioned to the small Seki.  Serial number ranges would tell us something.  If they are randomly interspersed, then maybe they were both being used, but if the numbers show all Na in one group, and Seki in the next, then there might have been a clear transition from one stamp to the next.

 

Na						3	8	77	20		4
						1940	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945
Seki, small, 3mm								9	26	15	2

[Kiipu]

12 hours ago, rebcannonshooter said:

why does the auction sword have a "seki" stamp?

 

The Seki 関 stamp displaced the Nagoya 名 stamp in the 201,500 range.  However, old 名 blades occasionally show up later on.

[rebcannonshooter]

Thanks Bruce and Kiipu, when I compare my sword to the auction one they are absolutely identical. So much so that I felt that they had to be made in the same factory. When I saw the "seki" stamp I thought that it indicated a different factory. So, if I understand you right same factory, just different inspection stamp? Just for what its worth my sword has an iron fuchi with no stamps at all, which I assume is correct for all side latch Nagoya 95's.

Thanks again guys, Tom

[Bruce Pennington]

3 hours ago, Kiipu said:

The Seki 関 stamp displaced the Nagoya 名 stamp in the 201,500 range

Thanks Thomas!  Thought you might have that data.  And it checks with the two numbers we see here.  The auction blade, with Seki, is number 202455 while Thomas' blade, with NA, is 133xxx.