Japanese Shirasaya

Wakazashi Shirasaya sword. No date but was brought back from the pacific with blood still on it.?

How would I go about dating and getting a value for this sword. It definately seen action. Its been handed down to me along with a silk Japanese flag. The sword still has blood stains(rust now) and has some chips in the cutting edge where it had been used(quite violently I’d say). I keep the flag sealed up.

you can date a japanese sword ,if you know what your looking at, by the ‘grain” of the steel, the shape of the tang, the file mark, cutting edge lenth,curviture of the blade and shape angle of the tip. first step is inspecting the tang for a signiture ,unless your is an obviously machine made late war sword,however you said its a short sword in its resting case so its likely handmade..there is either one or two small dowels/pins thru the tsuba (handle ) that need to be pressed out very carefully to alow the “handle” to come off, under that would be the “tang” most higher quality swords edo era or before will be signed by the smith which can tell you exactly who made the sword, and by knowing when he was working you know when the sword was made…as for your flag is it written on or plain? which pattern is it? any date on it ( would be a small numbered stamp somewhere with a number 15.2,12.9 etc and maybe a kanji stamp showing the era it was made, showa,taisho,or meiji .

Shirasaya Katana Tsuba Project