NCO Gunto description and questions

[larryb]

I am new to this board and to collecting and have two questions:

 

1. Is my description of my sword fairly on-target? does anyone see any problems in the pictures I should be aware of? Any other information you could give about this sword?

 

2. Are there any dealers or collectors in the Virginia Beach, VA area you could point me towards?

 

Thanks!

LarryB

 

 

 

In 1976 I was given a Japanese sword from a friend who knew I was interested in militaria and swords in particular. He said it was in the attic of the house his parents bought and I tend to believe him.

 

I have compared the sword with information in the helpful Gunto website: http://www.h4.dion.ne.jp/~t-ohmura/gunto_070.htm

Quotes below are from this website.

 

What I have seems to be a Gunto 1935 type NCO sword, serial number: 3277

 

Markings (fuchi):

Kokura arsenal stamp

Kokura inspection stamp

Private sector sword stamp: Suya Shoten Co, Ltd.

 

Overall blade length: 90.0 cm

Edge Length: 67.5 cm

 

Top mounted blade clip: missing

Tassel (tusho): missing

Tsuba: brass, "aoi-shaped", "blade side level difference is deep"

 

scabbard chape (ishizuki): "begining term type"

scabbard throat (kuchi-gane): missing

scabbard wooden liner: missing

 

 

I have more pictures than what I uploaded here, if there are any questions.

[Stegel]

Hi LarryB,

Your NCO Sword is genuine form the pictures you have uploaded, most of the info you got from Ohmura's site would be plenty to give you an idea of what you have.

It is a shame that the scabbard throat and liner are missing, if you can't locate them at your friends house it will be a shame as it lowers the value of the sword if you were going to sell it.

If you crawl the web you may be able to find the missing parts, but the numbers on the throat will not match, this will get a better price but still not the same as a complete matching set.

there were some 6000 odd made and this model is fairly desirable by militaria collectors.

Sorry i can't point you to any dealers in your area.

Could you post a pic of the scabbard tip....just for my own interest.

Her is a recent posting on this board, you can see some others of this same type, it may interest you

viewtopic.php?f=50&t=13229&start=15

hope this helps

 

BTW your description is accurate, you are also missing the wire loop (sarute) that goes on the end of the handle for the leather tassel to go through.

 

Ernst

[Stegel]

Just noticed this on ebay.... you might be interested.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-Japanese-W ... 3a7794e651

 

Ernst

[larryb]

Ernst, Thank you for the reply.

 

I no longer am in contact with the friend who gave me the sword, and I doubt very much if the house, if still standing, has any more parts.

I'm not interested in selling, but have always been mildly curious about the value. Now that I am getting interested in possibly collecting classic antique Nihonto, I will make sure to take better care of what I have.

 

Below is a picture of the scabbard tip. It appears to be of the early type.

 

I agree, too bad the scabbard is so dented. Luckily, the blade is free of defects, just some light rust.

 

- LarryB

[Brian]

Is this not the relatively rare copper handled variant?

If so, they fetch a premium over the standard NCO Shin Gunto. Their handles were not intended to be removed though. Value..no idea as I don't usually dabble in the militaria side of these, but there are collectors here.

 

Brian

[larryb]

Yes, the handle is cast copper and it seems to disassemble with no problem.

 

- LarryB