I’m from Sweden and it seems impossible to find someone here who is competent in the area of japanese swords. I’ve only been a "reader" at this forum before, but decided to join and ask if anyone can help me identify a sword I have in my possession.

To make a long story short: my mom got the sword from a relative in the 1980’s. There’s no saya, and the blade has remained remarkably sharp even though my mom got the sword over 30 years ago. I just recently noticed that there’s a hamon line on the sword. I’ve always thought of it as a cheap knock-off, mainly because the very cheap handle and a tsuba that looked like a piece of rusty metal. A couple of months ago I looked around at japanese swords on auction and realised that my swoord look very similar when it comes to the shape of the blade and also the rust on the tang. When I realised that it might be an antique sword I polished it with a wet sponge. It was then I saw the hamon line. I now suspect that it might be an antique blade that has been mounted with cheap parts later in its "life".

There’s unfortunately no signature on the tang, but I hope it’s possible to decide if it might be an antique sword.

I have attached some photos of the sword. You’ll have to excuse my lack of photo skills and the fact that I didn’t have a white background when taking the pictures!

Greetings from Sweden

Fredrik