[mike radford]

Hi, I got this quite a while back. It came from an Iffy source. It included a receipt from a reputable Japanese sword dealer. What think you guys? Thanks in advance.

 

[BradB]

Mostly

I would opine that the sword has been "restored". Scabbard repainted, some of the fittings cleaned, and POSSIBLY tsuka re-wrapped. BUT, it is not a Chinese fake.

 

[mike radford]

Hi Brad, Thanks. I thought the fittings looked too fresh, figured they were at least polished. Also, the scabbard looked a bit too good. As long as it is not a fake, I can stand that. The handle wrap, if redone, must have been handled alot as it is fairly compressed and worn. It is unsigned, by the way. Thanks again.

This NCO is probably all OK.

 

[Nagoya10]

Here are a few pics of my NCO. I notice that the iron tsuba got used on early numbered NCO's, in addition to mine.

 

[BradB]

NCO swords

Iron and pierced brass tsubas alternate throughout NCO production without much pattern. I think it is mostly a function of what sub contractor produced the fittings.

 

[03man]

Thanks for the great pictures guys, this feature seems to be working fine on these forums.