This weekend's gun show: Japanese gold mine

[burb1989]

Hey all. I went to the big local gun show here and this time it seemed like every table that sold the older militaria had at least some Japanese items. I picked up some vintage 8mm nambu ammo for $40, a very abused canteen for $15 (I needed another carrying harness for the good one I have and this one was perfect), an almost mint army tunic for $40, and the cherry on top was a walk in naval landing force sword that was carried in by a ww2/Korean War vet who picked this sword up during his time in the service. I ended up striking a deal with him for $500 since that is what I thought it would be worth and he was more than happy someone was interested in his sword that had been sitting in his closet forever. His grandson had then brought in a beautiful type 99 that had the mum and was all matching but missing the cleaning rod that this gentleman had also picked up. The rifle was soaked in cosmoline (it was even clogging the barrel) and it had sat wrapped with a shirt in his closet next to this sword for at least thirty years. Sadly I neglected to ask how the gentleman had acquired this sword but he left shortly after I purchased the sword and helped out with information on his type 99. I'm heading back tomorrow and hopefully will come back with a ww2 named Marine Corps helmet that a friend of mine is willing to sell me to help start up a new display. I will try and post pictures tomorrow of the sword, tunic, and hopefully of the helmet if I get it.

[Geoff Ward]

Good Luck! Looking forward to seeing the pics! Best,Geoff

[Stu W]

Naval Landing Force sword?

That was a term erroneously used in some publications in the past to describe the Army Type 3 Shin-gunto. Even if that is the case with this sword if it's in good condition the price was still a deal. I too am looking forward to pics.

Regards,
Stu

[burb1989]

Sorry about the confusion Stu. I've just always learned that it was an NLF sword but I guess I learned it wrong then. I'll get some pictures up tomorrow.

[burb1989]

Sadly I did not come home with the marine helmet. He wasn't quite ready yet to let one go but I do have first dibs when he does decide to sell one of them. Anyway I did manage to find some 6.5 Japanese ammo as well as a named Korean War M1 Garand ammo belt (at the cost of my newest tunic) and a black 1942 Singer canteen for very cheap ($30). Also here are the pics of my new sword for everyone to see. I bought this for $500 and I think I did ok but I'm no expert by any means on these. Hope you all like it and I'll try to post pics of the canteen as well on the US portion of the forum.

[burb1989]

Here are some more pics.

[Stu W]

A Type 3 Army as mentioned but still a nice sword and a good find at 500 USD. These routinely sell for two to three times that amount depending upon condition. The blade is semi machine made with hand finishing. The name of the finishing smith and the date (1943, 44, or 45)are both likely to be on the nakago (tang) and if you wish to remove the tsuka (handle) we can walk you though the process. Or you can leave it as is if you prefer.

Regards,
Stu

[burb1989]

I did carefully remove the handle when I got home and after I took pictures on my phone of the characters on the tang I sent those off via email to a long time friend of mine who has been collecting Japanese swords for a long time (I had no idea he collected these at all until I told him about my type 95 from Tarawa). He looked over the pictures and from what he could gather the translation of the date came out to around January of 1943 so I guess it would be an early example then? Also I did take some pictures of the other characters on the other side of the tang but I need to try and get those translated as well. There are four characters there that I can't seem to find any info on. Would these be the maker of the blade or the province it was made in?

[GHP]

I did carefully remove the handle when I got home and after I took pictures on my phone of the characters on the tang I sent those off via email to a long time friend of mine who has been collecting Japanese swords for a long time (I had no idea he collected these at all until I told him about my type 95 from Tarawa). He looked over the pictures and from what he could gather the translation of the date came out to around January of 1943 so I guess it would be an early example then? Also I did take some pictures of the other characters on the other side of the tang but I need to try and get those translated as well. There are four characters there that I can't seem to find any info on. Would these be the maker of the blade or the province it was made in?

Post your images and we'll have a look. 1943 is two years before the end of the war, so it's not an "early" blade.

--Guy

[burb1989]

I'll try to figure out my new phone and get them posted as soon as I can.

[Stu W]

There are several of us here who can translate the date and the mei (signature). The four kanji character group will be the signature. The longer group will be the date. In fact you can figure out the date yourself if you wish using the information provided in the thread regarding same pinned to the top of this Japanese section.

Regards,
Stu

[burb1989]

Here's what could take from the date side.

[burb1989]

Here's the signature side.

[Stu W]

I'm reading the date as ...

Showa (first two kanji reading top to bottom)

20 (third kanji)
nen (year - fourth kanji)

1 (fifth kanji)
gatsu (month - sixth kanji)

The 20th year of the Showa era is 1945 and of course the first month is January.

Someone will be along shortly to confirm or correct that.

I'll start on the mei later when all the Christmas prep is done. It's a mad house around here at the moment.

Regards,
Stu

[burb1989]

Thank you Stu for the help. I guess my friend mixed up the math for 43 and 45 (oh well). Anyway I'm glad the sword is still in decent shape but the blade is a little dirty. Is there any kind of oil that I can use to try and clean it up a bit? That and one chip out of the tip of the blade are the only drawbacks to this piece. Other than that it is in great shape. I know the feeling about the madhouse Stu. My family is coming in for the holidays and now I can show them a bunch of new additions to the collection.