Well...Unless I have lost my google skills I cannot find anyone that does appraisals for these swords so I am asking you gentlemen.

Would obviously like to find someone in CT. but would travel to NYC if need be.

Hansen & Hansen Arms in Southport might do that sort of thing. They definitely advertise looking to buy them.

Be very very careful with them. They are notorious low ballers.

Get some decent pics, and post on Wehrmacht-Awards.com. The folks are knowledgeable, and willing to share what they know. You'll find the occasional meathead, but generally they will give you the straight scoop. If I'm not mistaken, there is a market place as well if you decide to sell.

You want to ask that guy that moved to TN. He is into this type of stuff and knows the right people.

The guy with the tie fighters in his avatar. Buccguy or something

Just out of curiosity, what type of sword is it?

If you don't know, can you describe it?  Does it have a brass tsuba (what the Japs called the hand guard) or iron?  Does it have a cord wrapped handle (known as a  type 94) or painted metal (known as a type 95)?  Does it have the samurai sword looking handle (known as a  shin guto) or a western style hand guard (known as a Kyu Gunto)...unless it's samurai sword looking with a black scabbard, in which case it's a navy Kai Gunto?

For point fo reference, I have a second pattern Shin Gunto (brass tsuba, aluminum handle) complete with NCO belt and matching serial numbers, and it's worth around $1000-$1100.

Two swords my father took off a Japanese officer in the Pacific.  They appear to be a matched set.

The Samurai is razor sharp.

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Jay Hansen will low ball the shit out of you and try to buy it from you. Stay far far away.

Those look like the mass produced swords, not the handmade ones. Me thinks goodODave here may be able to point you in the right direction though.

For fas cash and de highess prices paid, kem see Fas' Eddy!

Ah, perhaps that's how they stay in business. Browsed thru there a few times but have never bought or sold.

I bought a Belgian browning a-5 there and paid $175
Bought a ruger mkii stainless bull barrel for $250- preban
Bought a Springfield armory factory m1a scope mount for $10
I have done very well at Hansen's

 












 

These are definitely machine made swords.  The one with the traditional looking handle is a type 94 Shin Gunto (1935-1945) while the other with the hand guard is an older Kyu-Gunto (pre-1935) army sword.  Officers were expected to purchase their own equipment so someone who was in the service for a long time may very well have had both types of swords.  There are millions of these things that were brought back so the only thing that makes them rare is if they're in immaculate condition, which I can't really tell from the quality of the photos.

See what I mean?




That said, officers who came down from Samurai class and had family swords would sometimes change out the machine made blade for their family sword blade, which is why you will see both machine made blades and antique blades in these things.  They were optimistic as hell so they had no inkling they would ever lose such an important family heirloom.  You can tell (sometimes) if the blade has a temper line along the edge, and definitely if there are etchings on the tang, where the sword maker would put his signature.  If you have one of these swords, it adds a couple thousand to the value, but I'm suspecting your Kyu-Gunto won't be a hand made blade though because there should be a hole in the handle for the peg that holds the blade into the grip.

As for value, all I can tell you is that at the last auction I've seen, an unremarkable Kyu-Gunto (machine made blade in good condition) went for around a thousand dollars.  It was probably worth more, but realistically, if something is worth five thousand dollars but nobody wants to pay more than $500 for it, then in my mind it's only worth $500 regardless of what the "experts" say.   That goes for any collectable being sold, I suppose.

You should try and take better photos and post them over to the fine people at Wehrmacht Awards.  Those guys collect ANYTHING, even weird crap like WWII German army garbage bags.

Here is my own pitiful collection.  For the life of me, I have never found a source that could explain how to correctly configure that leather strap hanging from the belt or what it was even for.

 

It's definitely Hattori Hanzo steel

Dressed up like a cheap street hooker hanging from his neck with his weiner in his hand.

Hmmm...I thought over in Asia they use tentacles for that, these days.

Interesting