well, it arrived today, needed a bit of a clean as it had a layer of black grease on it, a bit of soap and water (plus a light going over with some FeCl followed by a baking soda bath) and a good oiling later.
starboard side
port side: the dark areas were where active rust was before cleaning. the light areas were not rusted.
katana asked i not tell him if it was wootz or not. i thus leave it up for question.
blade is in reasonable shape for 100+years, but of denting on the spine where it had been batonned, there is a slight wiggle in the blade where it likely was bent and straigtened in the past.
final shot of right side from another angle. there does seem to be a bit of a dendritic patterning.....
for comparison, a homogeneous steel blade i treated earlier
