New information from the JOMSA issue last Sept. A very well written and researched article. I hope this link works:  https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=6ad8491d9e384c310c0b38cacc14a2decdffda302654d3c86f19466f4fabc48fJmltdHM9MTc3NTA4ODAwMA&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=4&fclid=044e9b75-7af4-652d-0612-8c797b0064f4&psq=society+of+the+Army+of+the+Philippines+membership+badge&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cub21zYS5vcmcvZmlsZXMvZG93bmxvYWQucGhwP2ZpbGU9SUI3dEV3YzgxbnFwX0pPTVNBX1ZvbDc2XzMucGRmJnN0cmVhbT10cnVlJnllYXI9MjAyNQ

Thanks for your reply, Scott. I'm inclined to agree with you that any tampering might be very bad for this. Many years ago however, I was involved in restoring antique Louis Vuitton steamer trunks; these had leather trim on the edges that looked like this and even worse. I was able to bring them back to life using gentle heat and rubbing in beeswax with bronze wool; actually got nice polish that way, without disturbing the original leather, even though they were so dried out that they wanted to crumble.   Anyone ever do anything like this?

Thanks much! I’m always very excited to find a new piece from the 442nd, and his story turned out extremely fascinating.   As mentioned, my first 442nd item happened to be this uniform from T5 Ted Hoshino, one of his mortar men, which made it all the cooler. They now sit on display next to each other!  

Fantastic! Thank you!

That’s unfortunate about the knife. Thank you for the info!

The 'real deal', slant pockets, ripstop with theater name tags   Nice score, they're still out there...

These are really great!

Wow!     Mark sends

Hello and welcome. You will find many topics on this forum about preserving leather. Let me start by saying that you have a nice cartridge box and some dryness is to be expected at 160 plus years. With that said, I would leave it as is as anything you add to it will alter it and will also eventually dry out and leave residue.     Scott

...and for enquiring minds   A topic started by Bearmon on Ball Cap size patches -->>  REALLY small PATCHES - Ball Cap size