I've got WWII Jap. Swords - What do I do?

R

Rainmaker870

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Feb 1, 2002
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I've come into a couple of WWII vintage souvenier swords my father brought home from the PI, and I have no idea what to do with them or how to get them appraised. One's a Cavalry Saber looking thing, one's more of a Samurai type sword; both have what we believe to be the original sheaths, both have some small nicks on the blades. The Saber has some patina on the blade, the Samurai is pretty clean.

I'm not a sword guy but my dad's made a gift of them to me. He has asked me not to sell them, but I'd still like to get them appraised. Can anyone suggest places to go?

Thanks for the help.

(Note: message edited after my dad changed his mind about selling the swords, as was his original thought.)
 
While pics can only go so far, if you can get them, we may be able to help you a little bit.

You probably don't want to just go to a pawn shop for appraisals...a lot of the time, people there don't have much clue as to what kind of sword it is.

Blades from the WW2-era range rather dramatically in quality, so if you see something online in similar mounts, it may not necessarily be anywhere near the same value. If you can get us pics at all, most especially high quality pics, we can probably offer a little aid as to at least the TYPE of swords you're dealing with.
 
Thanks for the response, Robert. I'll be picking the swords up this weekend, and will try to get some pictures I can make available by Monday or Tuesday.
 
Thanks for the response, Robert. I'll be picking the swords up this weekend, and will try to get some pictures I can make available by Monday or Tuesday.
 
Hi,

Wanna sell them straight up??
I'm trying very hard to find Japanese swords at reasonable prices. I've yet to aquire a Japanese cavalry sabre, if that is what you have. Can you descride the other "samurai" type further? It is a goal of mine to aquire one and just ONE example of each type of Japanese sword made, be the earlier Samurai types or later military (Gunto) types. I like Japanese history, espically the samurai eras. However, I can't hoard Japanese swords like some collectors can. So that is in part one reason whay I set such a goal. Another reason is of course money matters.:confused:
 
Picked them up this weekend as planned, haven't made the time to get pictures taken and posted yet - probably tomorrow or Friday, I think. I doubt they'll be for sale anytime in the near future, as my dad is pretty adament about wanting to hang on to them. Of course neither of us has any idea what they're worth, and things *could* change.... you never know.
 
Thats cool. No offense meant. Perhaps I was a bit hasty with my question. I understand about your dad wanting to hang on to them seeing what they are and how much harder it is for the average person to find them to buy. I'd be interested in seeing the photos of the two swords however. :D
 
No offense taken, Bladedude - I learned a long time ago that if you snooze you lose. ;) I think I've got a digital camera lined up for this evening, if all goes as planned I'll have the pix up tonight or tomorrow.
 
Good question, Federico. During WWII my dad was in the Phillipines, New Guinea, and had a brief stop in Japan at the end of the war. He brought these back with him, along with some other things that he picked up out of the jungle (you oughta see what one round from a Garand does to a metal helmet.) Most of his time was spent in the PI and New Guinea, hence the reference to them being "brought back from the PI." Neither of us has any idea of their origin, only that he didn't buy them on a Tokyo streetcorner. ;)

They're the real McCoy. My/his only questions are what they're worth, what kind of quality they represent, and what kind of background history can be implied. I actually wound up with a total of three: the Saber, the Samurai, and a Non-Com's short sword. The saber and short sword have a pretty good patina on them, the samurai is bright and shiny with a number of nicks on the blade. The nicks, as I understand it, were placed there by his nephew who had access to the swords while my dad was in college on the GI bill.
 
So then are they Japanese swords from Japanese soldiers that lostem in PI, or are they Japanese style swords made in PI by locals at the time?
 
According to my dad, all three are battlefield souveniers that he collected. He did not buy them from locals in the Phillipines. HOWEVER, given that your question is certainly legitimate, I'll tell you that if I had to suspect one's origin it would be the samurai... ONLY because it's still bright, shiny, and appears to have come out much the worse for wear after clanking around with the other two.

I just don't know enough about swords in general - let alone from that era - to have any preconceptions about the steel used or anything else. That's why I'm asking for help as opposed to bragging about what they're worth. I'm sure that, just like war-time production firearms, quality varies for a lot of reasons.

The short answer to your question is yes - these are Japanese military issue swords that used to belong to Japanese soldiers, and are NOT Japanese style swords made by locals in the Phillipines.

Hope that answers your questions.
 
... but doggoned if I can figure out how to get them added. If someone can walk me through that I'd appreciate it, or I could just mail them out to anyone who's interested.

In the short term, if you'd like a copy of them just shoot me an email with "sword pix please" in the subject line. I've set up a rule that should fire the pictures right back, they're about 1mb in size.
 
It occured to me from your description that the "shiny" samurai sword might actually be a sword blade that is made of stainless steel and a machine made peice at that. Is there any kind of numbers or markings upon it anywhere?:p
 
I've seen pics of his Samurai sword and it appears to be a Gunto, with a straight hamon, nothing too flashy, it has the standard issue leather/wood/brass sheath with it.
 
It occured to me from your description that the "shiny" samurai sword might actually be a sword blade that is made of stainless steel and a machine made peice at that. Is there any kind of numbers or markings upon it anywhere?
Click to expand...

No markings at all that I can see, and the blade is SIGNIFICANTLY more shiny than the other two. Pictures are your for the asking, just email me and put the phrase "Sword Pix Please" in the subject line. My PC should catch that phrase and crank them right back out, if not let me know and I'll manually send them (Sorry it's so corny, I wanted to make sure I didn't spam anyone by accident. :) )


I've seen pics of his Samurai sword and it appears to be a Gunto, with a straight hamon, nothing too flashy, it has the standard issue leather/wood/brass sheath with it.
Click to expand...

Hi Don - I'm still trying to get back up with my digital-camera-buddy to try for a closer picture of the temper line. Our schedules aren't exactly matching this week, but I'll get it done as soon as I can.

Thanks guys - let me know what you think, or if you have any more questions.
 
 
Let me also reiterate that the swords are not for sale at this point. At first I thought my dad wanted to turn them, if possible, but when I picked them up he was adamant about wanting to hang on to them.

So -- there is no ego involved in anyone's suggestions or qualified input regarding value, quality, or anything else. Let's operate under the guideline that my dad's account of their origin is accurate and proceed from there. All opinions are welcome, and thanks for your interest and help.
 
 
Rainmaker's pictures: saber 2

(looks like an 1886 cavary trooper's sword)
 
Rainmaker's Pictures: Samurai 1

(WWII officer's sword in military mounts - the blade needs to be checked closely)
 
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