is this trash or treasure?
reddit.com/gallery/xpyysf
reddit.comPosted Sep 28, 2022, 1:33 AM UTC
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reddit.comIt's obviously not a folded steel 400 year old masterpiece but it may be a mass produced nco sword or possibly a sword a soldier bought to have in ww2? It feels mass produced. It has evidence of age on it. Several parts are stamped with the number 16. It's not as sharp as swords I've had that were made for cutting tanto mats or whatever they're called but it's not mall ninja stuff either. Lots of the parts feel mass produced but it's sturdy and heavy and fairly sharp. You could most certainly kill someone with it. I'm hoping it's from a soldier in ww2. Maybe the mass produced kind they gave to pilots or something. If it's trash ill just play king Arthur and return it to the lady of the lake.
No signature or name of forge on the metal under the handle. Just a weird anchor like symbol and some numbers.
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It's the real deal. See my other comment.
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It’s rather odd. What’s that material they used instead of the samegawa?
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I think it's lacquered canvas
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I know they got cheap w making the NCO swords towards the end. I don’t think I’ve seen too many examples, and honestly, with their shoddy workmanship, I’m not sure how many survived this long. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was one of these later models.
I’m curious if an expert will weigh in.
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I'd like to know more about it as well. It could be a late war compromise, but it's not necessarily shoddy work or a cheaper material either. Like with the stainless blades they made some interesting choices of materials for the navy swords. The tsukamaki and other details look like they were done with care and it's held up very nicely over many decades.
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It has the toyokawa anchor mark on the tang. I just learned what the mark meant. I spent the last 3 weeks thinking the sword was trash lol.
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Can you take a picture of the saya and the nakago please.
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Nakago is the tang? It has the mark of the toyokawa arsenal meaning it was mass produced during ww2.
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I’d say naval WWII Gunto? Not a pro I’m just taking a shot in the dark.
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Definitely a Kai Gunto, nice find :)
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I think that stamp indicates that it’s made of stainless steel. Late war kai gunto? Someone correct me if I’m wrong.
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Mass produced from the toyokawa arsenal in ww2.
There's a neat anchor mark of theirs on the tang. It's not worth as much as other ww2 swords tho.
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Well, isn't a antiaue, but us pretty
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It is 100% an antique. It's a WWII navy officers sword.
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A lot of people use the term “antique” to mean an item of 100 years or older specifically.
In this sense, a WW2 sword wouldn’t be an antique.
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Treasure! It's a WWII Japanese navy Kai Gunto in very good condition. It's probably worth between $1k and $1.5k to the right collector. Nice find!
Edit after taking a closer look. The blade appears to be stainless which is correct for a navy sword. If the tassle is original that's going to increase the value. Red should be a mid ranking officer
http://www.japaneseswordindex.com/military.htm
The tassel is not a military tassel. It’s from a sword bag.
Makes sense, good eye!
On the tang is the toyokawa anchor marking. I believe this is a mass produced machine made japanese ww2 officers sword made by toyokawa. They often had no markings on the tang except the anchor. I spent the last 3 weeks thinking this sword was trash but now I think it's real. Probably worth $800 or more. I might post it on this sub again with the handle removed and show the anchor marking. It's not very good as far as swords go since it's machine made and mass produced but it's pretty neat.
We told you it was treasure! And that it's a WWII navy officer's sword among other details. If you want to let it go for $800 I'm interested in taking it off your hands but as I said before I think it's probably worth more than that. Machine made and mass produced isn't necessarily bad. Albion swords are some of the best around and they're all factory made. The main thing that makes this sword unsuitable for actual combat is that it's made of stainless steel. But that in no way diminishes its value or historical significance. You've got a real peice of history and in very good condition. Glad you were able to find more details about where it was likely produced. It's a really cool sword and an uncommon variety of gunto.