Really Good Copper Type 95 FAKE

[Bruce Pennington]

I thought I'd post this here for the exposure, then it can be moved to the Fake Sword thread.

Found at this Western Trading Post auction (Invaluable)

 

At first, I thought it was legit, but with wrong saya.  But red flags:

1.  No dimples in the tsuka diamonds

2.  Wrong curvature of latch

3.  A zero in the front of the serial number "02353".

4.  Wrong ending of the bohi

 

Patina to the tsuka is shockingly good and stamps are pretty darn close, however the center "TO" is too big.

I'll post their photos and what it should look like right next to them:

 

                                                        FAKE                                                                                                               REAL

 

 

 

 

[Scogg]

Good eye, Bruce. I agree. We will have to keep a keen eye out for these. Thank you for sharing. 

 

To add, the habaki on copper hilt Type 95 swords should have a cutout on the mune (like the Nihonto habaki we are familiar with). The subsequent aluminum hilt variations did away with the habaki cutout.

 

Also factory original copper hilt swords were made without a mekugi. Instead they are secured to the hilt only by the grommet screw at the kobutogane. 
 

Example of the habaki on a genuine sword:

 

 

[Bruce Pennington]

Thanks Sam!

 

Just for the record, you can find legitimate coppers with a screw. It is believed they were factory repaired jobs.  With the mismatched saya, this one could be pretending to be one, if all the other things were right…. But even the paint on the saya is clearly new.