Nicest reproduction shin gunto

[RodneyO]

Hi All,
Seeing so many junk swords being sold on ebay from China (and here too), check out some of the nicest repros so far. For the price, you might be able to find a real WW2 shin/kai gunto or two around. These look pretty convincing almost scary!!

http://www.handmadesword.com/wwii-swords.html

[MattS]

I saw those too. Being new to Japanese swords, I would be fooled. Here's a link to a video they put on Youtube: http://youtu.be/XOVSpXJNyIM
At least at $1300 each there won't be a flood of them anytime soon!

[gunto]

The itoMaki is completly wrong.
Sarute looks clumsy.
Sakura and leaves on the koshirae , dont like it.
They are close on far distance .
Hanwei has made better replicas.

[RodneyO]

Hi Matt, gunto,
Yup! $1300.00, you won’t be seeing too much of these on ebay…. thanks for the link to Youtube.

gunto, I searched for the Hanwei swords and wow! the Hanwei Yasukuni Captain’s Gunto (only $899.00), if artificially aged and weathered it really could fool beginners. This one and the Colonel's Gunto are pretty nice and your right that they are the best replicas out!!
http://www.casiberia.com/prod_Detail.aspx?id=SH2444

[MattS]

Wow! Those are nice looking!

[RodneyO]

I did a side-by-side “picture” comparison and no doubt that Hanwei’s a better reproduction. Searched ebay and couldn’t find a decent gunto for less then a thousand $$$!, but there are plenty of Chinese junks for less then two hundred. Maybe a long shot but like the prices of original Fallschirmjager helmets, I’d go for a high-end repro (more so an original shell with repro liner and chin strap) to fill the empty spot. Maybe this is the future for the IJA & IJN guntos and would make a nice filler gunto until one come along. It’s listed as “hand forged blade, authentic detailing and will vary slightly from piece to piece” but that's a hefty price to pay for a reproduction.
I’m really amazed at how high the prices gotten for officers and even NCO’s swords, good thing I started early as I had a feeling they would be harder to come by later.

[Austo1]

Reproduction Shingunto

G'Day All
I think that it would be a wiser decision to invest in a good quality Gunto Koshirae than purchase any reproduction gunto. Good quality gunto koshirae are now regarded as very collectable items and are quite sort after. Good ones command prices in excess of $1200 even in Japan.
Also remember:
"Buy rubbish or repro today and its still rubbish or repro tomorrow.
Buy quality today, and it will increase in value tomoprrow"
Regards
Doug
www.guntoartswords.com

[RodneyO]

Aloha Doug, Good point ! I have koshirae for a kaigunto (with tsunagi) which I bought from Mr. Benson. Must have had a nice old blade as there's a family mon on the kabuto-gane. You're right, a repro will always be a repro......... Great website!!

[RodneyO]

I found a picture of the kaigunto (koshirae)....
Guntos.jpg