Antique WW2 Japanese Officers Samauri Sword.

[Big T]

I'm selling an Antique WW2 Japanese Officers Samauri Sword as a private seller and this sale is in no way the responsibility of NaturalBushcraft.co.uk or any of its moderators.

Hi,

This is a bit random but seeing as there are people interested in knives, axes n stuff on here I thought I would give it a try!

I have an anthentic WW2 Japanese Officers "Shin Gunto" Samauri Sword for sale, it is in good condition complete with scabbard. It currently graces the wall of my study but due to being skint its up for sale! This is a genuine Samauri Sword, not a replica so it is exempt from the recent change in law regarding Replica swords. It is completely legal to own. If anyone is interested I will post pics, im asking £350 ono.

Regards,

Anthony.

[fish]

pics?

[JonnyP]

Is it any good with a fire steel..?


jk

[Big T]

[JEEP]

Please don't take this the wrong way; being a longtime collector of swords, especially Nihonto, I can tell you that a gunto like this is worth nowhere near £350 - unless the blade is a significantly older one with signature or the whole sword is in pristine condition. The blade on yours looks to be forged (hamon is visuable), but it it also quite abused.

The sword is a Navy Gunto from the 1940s. Probably mounted on a slightly older blade 1890-1910 ish.

A gunto is not a samurai sword - it is a military sword shaped somewhat like a tachi.

The tsuka looks to be in good shape, as does tsuba and fushi-kashira - but the saya is quite beat up.

I can easily understand why you might think the sword is worth a lot more. It is not uncommon to see eBay sellers and even antiques dealers try to sell these swords for outreagous prices online.

The true value of this sword is somewhere around £80-120. Maybe up to £150 if it is a rare issue or the blade is an older one.

[Big T]

Fair enough! It was looked at by The Lanes Armoury and they valued it at between £750 and £1000, they even had an identical one for sale at that price at the time.

[dave budd]

things are only ever worth what somebody is willing to pay. So to the Lanes Armoury it may be worth a grand and to Jeep on a hundred. Did the Armoury express an interest in buying it from you? maybe ask around on a sword specialist site and see if there is anybody there?

[Big T]

Yeah, agree with that, thats the joys of selling things! They did seem interested but they wernt keen on me sending it to them, they prefur to do everything face to face. The problem is that living in Cornwall sword specialists are a little thin on the ground! I have tried to find websites but there aint many of them either! Maybe I will just leave it on my wall then!

[JEEP]

The only way a gunto like this could be worth £700-1000 is if it is fitted with a blade that is either very old or signed - or perhaps if the sword has belonged to someone of historical significance. From the pictures above it is impossible to determine either.

I just ran through The Lanes Armory homepage. Three things pop up:
1. Their prices are very high. Some outright ridiculous. I wonder who their customer base are? Not the average collector, since he would know where to to obtain similar items at much lower prices.
2. Why does a company, whom apparently has antique weapons valued thousands and thousands of pounds in stock, have such a bad website? It doesn't look very reassuring.
3. I know of a lot of antique weapons dealers alle over Europe, some small and some very big - it puzzels me why I have never heard about "One of the Largest, Old Established Sources, of Antique and Vintage Swords, Arms, Armour And Military Books in Europe." It may simply be that I have not been paying attention (it could be really), but it puzzels me still.


Regards.

Jakob

[Big T]

Think I will hang onto it then if its only worth that much, thats not much more than a replica one with no history attatched to it!