WW2 Katana Legal in Britain?

[tiomnajasila]

Hello,

I am planning to buy a Katana in Britain. Now in The Netherlands these are legal. But are these legal in the UK as well? I want to buy one through a colleague but don't want him to get into trouble. I will pick it up myself and travel by plane.

Can anyone help me with this? It would cost me quite a bit if this goes wrong and would not like my colleague to get behind bars

Cheers,
Rick

[Tanaka]

Real Katana's are still legal here in Britain, the laws were change to try and outlaw the cheap nasty repro samurai swords to stop them getting into the wrong hands. Authentic historical pieces are still ok to buy and sell though

[tiomnajasila]

Thanks Tanaka,

I had read about the cheap repro's being banned but couldn't find anything on the real Katana's. Then there is still hope for me getting the one I want

Cheers,
Rick

[b-m-n_animal]

Be careful most customs can’t tell the difference between swords and it's a very grey area, As far as I was aware you can’t sell or trade in any curved single edged sword (that includes allot of cavalry and other swords) unless you are a dealer. For the best advice try to contact the To-ken society they'll be able to advise you better as Clive was working on trying to sort this out with the government (A nice bit of legislation that was rushed through again).

Paul

[b-m-n_animal]

FYI

http://www.to-ken.com/membersarea/Swordban.htm

[tiomnajasila]

Thanks Paul,

I have contacted Clive and will wait for an answer from him.

[Tanaka]

Am i missing something as the newest information i can find on there is well over 2 years old and even then they were still just discussing the proposals

[b-m-n_animal]

it's more the info etc that was going on then anything (I was at work when I looked this up and the museum can be funny about doing private stuff like this). the legislation should be out there as it ws passed and that's why you can no longer sell swords on ebay uk etc.

[tiomnajasila]

I have gotten answers from Clive as well as the UK police department. For those who are interested I can write it here

[Tanaka]

please do

[b-m-n_animal]

would be good to know what the police say ...