Two bringback Japanese swords

[Blu1989]

Hi again everyone. Here are two Japanese swords that I acquired from separate veteran families. The first one is a type 95 that was given to me by one of my mom's coworkers at the VA. His father was a marine during ww2 and served lastly on the island of Tarawa, where this sword was brought home from. His father had killed the soldier who had this sword with his .45 after that soldier had killed one of his men with it. His children were too creeped out by the sword to want it and the gentleman wanted it to go to someone who would appreciate it and cherish it so when I offered to buy it from him he turned it down and gave the sword to me as a gift. The second sword is a type 3 that I purchased from the marine who brought it home. He was at a small gun show with his grandson walking around trying to sell his sword but dealer after dealer kept low balling him insisting that the sword was a fake. When he got to my friend's table where I was at I was interested in the sword and listened to his story of how he acquired the sword. He told me during the war on one of the islands his unit came to a cave that needed to be cleared out. His co threw a grenade into the cave and after the detonation his unit went inside. There was some equipment laying about with some dead bodies but there were a couple of pieces that were taken out of the cave, one of them being this sword. Having no experience with swords at all I offered him $500 which is what I guessed it was worth. He happily took the offer saying that I made double the offer the last dealer made to him and that was the highest offer he got to that point. He told his grandson to go out to the car to get the rifle to show me and after a few minutes his grandson walked in with probably the best time capsule type 99 I've ever seen. It was all matching, had every accessory including a brass muzzle cover, had a couple of gouges in the stock from shrapnel, and it was completely drenched in cosmoline, unfired since the war. I told him what I knew about it and he said that the rifle came from the same cave the sword came from and he was happy his sword went to someone who really appreciated it. After I gave him the info on his rifle he and his grandson left the show. Regretfully I should've asked him which island he got it from but with a manufacture date of January 1945 the options are pretty limited on which island it could've been on.

[Costa]

2 very nice examples--- as for the dealers offering way less--- common practice with these clowns and to say fake-- just another way of screwing some one. same practice as back in the 70's when I started. some things never change---------------------

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Wow, both are very nice ... the stories only make the swords more interesting!

[USCapturephotos]

Great pieces.

Paul

[Blu1989]

Thanks guys. I always try to get as much of the story as I can when I buy an item from a veteran or one of their family members. Those kinds of items make up the vast majority of my collection as I can feel certain that what I'm buying isn't a fake and hearing the stories behind the items is just icing on the cake for me.

[mcmike]

"Pretty limited" indeed! At least you can narrow it down to a few. Nice swords and great stories; thanks for sharing.

[Thor996]

Thanks guys. I always try to get as much of the story as I can when I buy an item from a veteran or one of their family members. Those kinds of items make up the vast majority of my collection as I can feel certain that what I'm buying isn't a fake and hearing the stories behind the items is just icing on the cake for me.

 

nice swords but the provenance nazis will never believe the stories behind them unless its 'documented'.

[sundance]

Japanese swords are works of art and yours are no exception. My Dad brought 2 home from the Pacific but got rid of them when I was off to school. At the time I didn't feel too bad about it but as time passed it bummed me out more and more especially after Dad passed away. SO IT GOES.

[Blu1989]

That's true about the paperwork Thor but I don't have any intention on trying to sell them, let alone with just the stories I heard from their vet owners. As a collector my job is to keep the stories alive as much as the items themselves. Over time their values will go up regardless of their stories anyway so somewhere down my family line someone might sell them (that's a hard thing to think about for me) and get more than I paid for them out of them in the future but for now I'm keeping my promises to the men who brought them home by cherishing them and their stories.

[Terry K.]

Nice swords. Where did you get the Jan. 1945 from?

[Thor996]

That's true about the paperwork Thor but I don't have any intention on trying to sell them, let alone with just the stories I heard from their vet owners. As a collector my job is to keep the stories alive as much as the items themselves. Over time their values will go up regardless of their stories anyway so somewhere down my family line someone might sell them (that's a hard thing to think about for me) and get more than I paid for them out of them in the future but for now I'm keeping my promises to the men who brought them home by cherishing them and their stories.

 

God bless ya and please don't take my comments negatively. I agree with you 100%- I was just throwing that out there-

[Blu1989]

Terry I had the blade translated by experts on other forums and that is what they came up with for a date.

Thor I didn't take your comments negatively don't worry about that. You know hard it is nowadays to find anything with paperwork attached. Some of the other items I have bought I asked if there was any paperwork but they said the paperwork was lost or gone over time. Some even told me that back then the paperwork was almost worthless so they would just either throw it away after they got back stateside or it got thrown into a dusty folder and put in a box to be forgotten about.

[Thor996]

Terry I had the blade translated by experts on other forums and that is what they came up with for a date.

Thor I didn't take your comments negatively don't worry about that. You know hard it is nowadays to find anything with paperwork attached. Some of the other items I have bought I asked if there was any paperwork but they said the paperwork was lost or gone over time. Some even told me that back then the paperwork was almost worthless so they would just either throw it away after they got back stateside or it got thrown into a dusty folder and put in a box to be forgotten about.

 

 

yes I do and thank you-its virtually impossible to find any paperwork- every once in a while I'll see paperwork for bringbacks on ebay. but NOT often. Heck, i would have done the same had it been me taking it back -last thing on the returning vets minds, I'm sure, was 'hell, I better save this so I can prove definitively to a collector that I really got it on the Rhine/Japan/fill in battlefield.

[SFMike]

Paperwork hysteria has only got to be a big deal in the last few years. All it ever does is show that some duty officer one afternoon inspected and approved some item for bring back by some GI who brought it in for a look.

 

They have nothing in any way to do with how, where, or who acquired the item on an actual "battlefield."

 

Just as likely a poker game ot trade for a pack of smokes. A lifetime of associating with vets of all ers and being a vet has only taught me that buying a story is for very naive people.

 

In over 50 years accumulating this stuff, I have seen very few actual papers.

 

Most are being seen today since they have become the rage. Some are probably original.

 

I just appreciate the artifacts for what they are.

[Blu1989]

Paperwork hysteria has only got to be a big deal in the last few years. All it ever does is show that some duty officer one afternoon inspected and approved some item for bring back by some GI who brought it in for a look.

 

They have nothing in any way to do with how, where, or who acquired the item on an actual "battlefield."

 

Just as likely a poker game ot trade for a pack of smokes. A lifetime of associating with vets of all ers and being a vet has only taught me that buying a story is for very naive people.

 

In over 50 years accumulating this stuff, I have seen very few actual papers.

 

Most are being seen today since they have become the rage. Some are probably original.

 

I just appreciate the artifacts for what they are.

 

I agree Mike. My type 95 was a gift and his father's story came with it. The other I bought just because it was an original sword and I wanted to be fair with the gentleman as he was the one who brought it home and I wanted to give him the respect he deserves. Granted I had no idea that his sword was still worth more than I paid for it but that showed my lack in experience with swords. I have never seen a papered bring back in the flesh, only online in forums and on auction sites. I don't buy for the story so much as what an item's retail would be and if I can buy it from a vet or their family I'll try to pay as close to what I think is retail for it as I know it isn't fake or humped together plus just getting to meet and talk to these people is a reward in itself.