in the UK straight swords of any length are no problem. no age or mfg. requirements.
curved swords pre 1950ish are OK as long as you can document the age. new or old ones) ones that are 'traditionally hand forged' are OK, as are ones with blades under 50m cm. you can also import new ones not 'traditionally hand forged' if you belong to a recognised martial arts school or re-enactment society with insurance.
they were actually trying to ban cheap samurai swords and ran into trouble from martial artists & collectors.
i almost had a new filipino made chinese style dandao (25.8in./72.4cm. blade) confiscated by the UK border agency last summer because it was not described as 'traditionally hand forged' on the customs docs. it took me & the vendor many emails, paper document mailings, and photos of one being 'hand forged' in the phillipines, about three months to convince them to release the item.
p.s. - if you have more than one item in the shipment they confiscate the whole shipment (and destroy it) even if only one item doesn't meet the requirements. which are nonsense anyway.
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