Curious case of gunto 23rd Kanefusa sold on ebay.

[Rawa]

Seki stamped, no star in T98 gunto. It have torokusho.

Sword link:

https://ebay.us/m/pLBA4z

I will add description and photos for future reference.

[Rawa]

Can anyone post here Slough's page 39 featuring this swordsmith? Shouldn't gendaito made by him have no stamps? Looks like it have hada.

[Bruce Pennington]

Marcin,

We are seeing more and more wartime blades that have registration papers, even Type 95s, so this paper does not mean the blade is traditionally made.  

 

Blades with the large Seki stamp, in my opinion, are usually quality-made, and some have signs they were folded and water quenched.  However, it is my opinion that they are quality showato, not gendaito.  They likely were made by something other than tamahagane, and/or were oil quenched.  If you read the discussion in my Stamps Doc about the large Seki stamp, you will see that there is only 2 pieces of documentation about the stamp, and they are in conflict with each other.  I personally believe the survey statement posted by Ohmura that shows the number of blades inspected by the Seki Cutlery Manufacturers association, and in a side note, states that the survey number does not include traditionally made blades as "they were not inspected."

[Rawa]

Yeah thats why Im posting it here. So torokusho being indicator of " traditional made" is a myth. Also seller simply mislead with discription.

Im posting interesting picture.

3 first techniques for "traditional made"?

@Bruce Pennington didnt we have examples of blades having on one nakago seki and star stamp?

[Conway S]

@Rawa Here is an example:

 

Small Seki and star stamps. The large seki stamp is the one associated with showato. The small seki is an arsenal inspection stamp, like the 名- na stamp. 

 

 

[Brian]

His swords are usually NOT 100% traditionally made. I suspect this is halfway between Showato and Gendaito. The paperwork is no longer a reliable indicator. 

[Bruce Pennington]

16 hours ago, Rawa said:

nakago seki and star stamp?

As Conway pointed out, we have seen a number of RJT, star-stamped blades with a combination of small Seki and Na stamps.  On non-star blades, we take this as a sign of showato, but on RJT blades, it seems to simply be the approval stamps of acceptance inspectors.  

[Rawa]

2 hours ago, Brian said:

His swords are usually NOT 100% traditionally made. I suspect this is halfway between Showato and Gendaito. The paperwork is no longer a reliable indicator. 

Thats why I asked for slogh book page. 

[Bruce Pennington]

[Rawa]

Thank you very much! I need to get copy of it.