Opinions on Officer Katana
Hey all. I’m a newbie to Japanese katanas. Trying to branch out from German daggers and what not. What is your opinion on this piece. I did a little research and it looks like Kokura arsenal stamping? What would also be an honest price for this piece?
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Dave,
You have a nice Type 98 with a blade that seems to be a mass-produced "Murata-to". You can read a bit about them here: http://ohmura-study.net/911.html
You are right about the Kokura stamp, and you can see a similar one on the blade Ohmura shows, though his doesn't have the other stamp found on yours. I can't make out the outher stamp. Is the blade pointed tip-up in that shot? Could you get me a more clear picture of that stamp (with the blade tip up)?
Pricing on these is tough to say. Officer gunto, in general, have lately taken a dive. I'd put this in a range of $800-1,200 USD. As a Murata-to, you might see it selling at the lower end of the scale unless you find someone who is particularly interested in owning the blade due to it's somewhat unique nature. Then the price would be toward the higher end of the scale. -
After getting another look at it, and rotating the picture, I can see it is the "Ho" of the
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HO 小倉陸軍造兵廠第一製造所
1st Factory of Kokura Army ArsenalComment
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Thank you for ur assistance. I think I’m going to try to buy this one. Looks like it’s in good shape. A nice piece of wwii history.Comment
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Good. I like the ones that are a bit out of the ordinary. It makes them unique.Comment
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