PRE WW1 JAPANESE NAVAL MARINE AND GUNNERY SWORD
This sword is a rare find. Dating from the late about 1873 it is a Japanese Naval Marine/Gunnery (Marine Artillery) Officers Sword. Brass hand guard with the Naval Anchor engraved to the rear of the pommel, Nice foliate engraving to the hand guard. The pipe back blade is clean and bright and has Japanese characters to the base of the blade on one side. The scabbard is in steel with no dents and has rope engraving to the two scabbard mounts.
This sword is referenced in the book "Military Swords of Japan 1868-1945" by Richard Fuller and Ron Gregory, pages 51, 52 and Fig 25 on page 53 which confirms its rarity.
These swords are rarely seen and would make a nice addition to a collection for the Japanese edged weapon collector as well as the Naval edged weapon collector.