A Japanese dagger ( num 1) for your appraisal

[Meme32]

Hi Everyone,

I am helping a friend who purchased this Japanese dagger and is seeking for valuable opinion and expertise on it.
This forum is probably the best place to get such opinions.
Many thanks in advance,

Kind regards

[Nick Komiya]

The easiest way to tell whether it's a repro sold in Japan is to test whether the blade is magnetic, as steel blades of that length are illegal in Japan, unless made in the traditional manner, qualifying it as an art object subject to registration.

Also, the cracked grip reveals the material to be plastic, instead of ray skin covered.

The very exaggerated temper line in the blade looks very artificial like in an old Japanese replica I show below next to yours. These repros sell for about $100 second hand.

[Meme32]

thanks