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Posted

Hello all

Forgive my ignorance on these matters but an elderly family friend who had inherited this sword is now interested in finding out more about it with a view to selling it. I'm hoping someone here can point me in the right direction. And further, how does one go about getting a valuation on something like this?

 

There is a tag attached of the owners name at time of surrender. I note that it's a phonetic spelling from someone who did not understand Japanese. Chat GPT informs me that the owners name is most likely Naval Lieutenant Tanabe Yoshinobu

 

I apologize for the poor resolution of the attached photos. If a greater resolution is required, I will travel to where the sword resides - about 4 hours away.

 

Thank You in advance.

 

niels

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  • Like 1
Posted

Hello Niels, welcome to the forum. Your friend has a naval officers sword, or Kai Gunto, which looks to be in decent shape. Value will depend on the quality of the blade, which we will need more photos of to determine. There's a instructional guide on how to safely remove the handle to check the maker:

 

 

  • Like 2
Posted

You can read up on the Navy kaigunto here: Naval Officer Sword - Ohmura Site

Care and cleaning: Japanese Sword Care

 

Navy swords sell for a bit more than army gunto as there are less of them to be found.  On average, they can start as low as $1,800 USD but normally sell for over $2,000.  If it's got a valuable blade, it can go even higher.  So, it's important to see what's in it.

 

They are welcome to offer it for sale on NMB's For Sale: Edged Weapons page.  Otherwise you are looking at ebay or one of the many auction houses.

  • Like 2
Posted

Wow!.. Speedy response from so many. 

 

Thank You all!

 

I will pass this information on to my friends and see where they want to go.

 

Yes, Yoshinobu is the first name, but according to Chat GPT the Japanese sequence is family name first then first name.

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