Thanks Wotan for the comments. I ended up buying it and if all goes well should have it Wed this week. I needed to take a bit of leap of faith so well see and paid up front and only trusted that it will ship. From all that I could gather up last night it seems legit and I guessed the cross guard was polished up to attract a buyer. Apparently it was taken to a professional some 20 years ago and given the o.k as far as its originality as it was in a storage locker since then. So anyway its exciting and I hope it works out for the good and I will post more for anyone that has interest in these hunts or its outcome, again thank you for your time.