Cream/Brown Tassel of Railway Police

[Bruce Pennington]

Very interesting example of the North China Railway police sword and tassel over on NMB: Railway Swords & Stamps - Military Swords of Japan - Nihonto Message Board

Ohmura-san documents the combination and tassel here: ‰Ø–kŒð’Ê“ Kahoku Traffic Sword but I'd never seen one in a collector's hands until now. Actually, there had been one pop up a while back, but none of us know what it was.

This one is on a standard Type 98 Japanese officer gunto, without the railway emblems seen on Ohmura's site. Maybe it was carried by a civilian administrator overseeing the Kahoku police operation? It would be great if actual documentation could be found about this color tassel.

[tomp]

Interesting tassel.

So the above sword has no NCR markings, but the color of the sword mountings is brown, along with the unusual tassel, points to NCR?

It would be great to have more information on these railway swords, specifically how they were distributed. I have an NCR example with unmarked regular 98 mounts, but it does have a numbered habaki and the NCR logo stamped on the tang. As can be seen, some swords are more overtly marked than others, why not mark them all the same way?

Tom

[ghp95134]

Tom,

Can you please post images or start a new post? I'd very much like to see your example.

Thanks!
-- Guy

[tomp]

Sorry, Guy, but no decent pics. with me to post. Will have to get back home and take some pics. when I get back for a visit.


Tom

[tomp]

This is the only pic. I can find of my NCR. Tassel related, one can see that it is the company grade tassel. I picked it up like that, but have nothing on its presence prior to purchase, about a decade ago now.

Tom

[Drb1643]

Interesting tassel.

So the above sword has no NCR markings, but the color of the sword mountings is brown, along with the unusual tassel, points to NCR?

It would be great to have more information on these railway swords, specifically how they were distributed. I have an NCR example with unmarked regular 98 mounts, but it does have a numbered habaki and the NCR logo stamped on the tang. As can be seen, some swords are more overtly marked than others, why not mark them all the same way?

Tom

Hi Tom, I just read your post about your NCR sword. My NCR sword also has a numbered habaki. I posted pictures of it on the Nihonto forums but unfortunately did not take a picture of the habaki. In your observations did all the NCR swords have numbered habaki?
Please let me know your thoughts.
Thanks,
Tom

[tomp]

Hey Tom,

Of the very, very few NCR swords I have seen, maybe 3 or 4 including mine, I believe all had a numbered habaki. I think there are only a handful of the logo marked tang examples, and even less of the full-on "furniture" marked examples. Granted, anecdotal at best. What is interesting about these is if you talk about the NCR's numbered habaki to gunto collectors, many will automatically dismiss the sword as fake, probably due to the fake NCOs that have the stamped habaki numbers. Just not a lot out there to get a good sampling to readily see trends.

Tom

[Drb1643]

Thank you very much Tom. I have to admit the numbered habaki had me concerned about originality. My sword has the full on NCR furniture. Your post is the first I've heard of another NCR sword having a numbered habaki. Thank you for erasing any doubts I had.
Tom

[bangbangsan]

Tom
My friend（772） and mine（663） NCR sword both have numbered habaki.

[tomp]

Thanks for sharing these pics. I believe my example has a four digit number and has the same copper colored habaki.

Could I see pics. of the NCR logo stamped on your tang?


Tom