Johnny Barracuda Posted June 23, 2015 Report Posted June 23, 2015 Hello, I am looking for a gold sword knot/tassel for an infantry officer field grade kyu gunto. See picture below. One just escaped me on eBay last week end because I was away and I am rather put out about it. It was sold for $ 145. I am proposing a purchase price of 150 to 250 dollars. Quote
lonely panet Posted June 24, 2015 Report Posted June 24, 2015 best of luck, you should have put your hand deeper into you wallet. that was a very good buy for someone. shingunto tassels for field grade are $500+, and taking into account that the earlier Kyu gunto tassel is much easer to damage compared to the shingunto tassel, I would say your going to have to wait a fair while before finding one for that price. and if you do please let me know I would love to get one for that price. Quote
Johnny Barracuda Posted June 24, 2015 Author Report Posted June 24, 2015 I know it was a good buy, for someone else. I was away with no web access and I came home too late. This is incredibly annoying. However, kyu gunto tassels were made for 45 years and are not so rare in Japan. In Japan. Quote
lonely panet Posted June 24, 2015 Report Posted June 24, 2015 true they did have a long service history, but last time I was Japan I couldn't find any. and evan when asked for Kyu gunto I got a lot of odd looks. evan one store had all military stuff stuffed into a umbrella stand with little care. went to every sword/antique store known in Tokyo and surrounding districts and the only store with quality imperial era stock was the sword store in the antique mall Ginza, just near the train/subway station. great stuff but out of my price range Quote
Johnny Barracuda Posted June 25, 2015 Author Report Posted June 25, 2015 During flea market days in temples and shrines, you can find some interesting stuff. Of course, discussing with sellers in broken English, one might have to praise the military might of Imperial Japan to facilitate transactions... I agree on the surprised faces triggered by the kyu gunto question. However, a Japanese good friend told me that such swords are not widely known as "kyu gunto" in Japan but rather as type 1875/1886 or type 8/19 swords. Quote
lonely panet Posted June 25, 2015 Report Posted June 25, 2015 ahhhhhh, that would explain that issue hahahah. I enjoyed the yasukuni flea market, but have never made it to the international market yet, would there be suck items there? Quote
Kai-Gunto Posted June 25, 2015 Report Posted June 25, 2015 Heres one.....but the price....... http://www.ebay.com/itm/WWII-Japanese-ARMY-Field-Grade-Golden-Military-Sabre-Sword-Tassel-Wood-Box-/371362208983?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5676e99cd7 Quote
Johnny Barracuda Posted June 25, 2015 Author Report Posted June 25, 2015 Thanks Thomas. I am rather certain that it is the one that sold for $143 on Saturday night... Quote
Johnny Barracuda Posted June 26, 2015 Author Report Posted June 26, 2015 Bought it from eBay. After offers and counteroffers, the seller accepted a reduced price of $350, which is not so bad, since it appears pristine. Quote
Stephen Posted June 27, 2015 Report Posted June 27, 2015 i dont know these grades, which one is this ? a step down in rank? http://www.ebay.com/itm/WWII-Japanese-ARMY-Company-Grade-Golden-Military-Sabre-Sword-Tassel-Rope-/371362210426?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5676e9a27a Quote
Johnny Barracuda Posted June 27, 2015 Author Report Posted June 27, 2015 Those are Meiji/Taisho era Army officer tassels, used until 1934, when the Army kyu gunto was replaced with the shin gunto. The tassel you are pointing to is for company grade officers, i.e. from sub-lieutenant to captain. It is in great condition but overpriced. It should go for about 120 to 150 dollars. The one I purchased has a stem after the acorn, it is the much rarer field grade tassel, from major to colonel. There is a third one, the general grade tassel, which has the same stem as the field grade one, but is ball-shaped instead of being acorn-shaped. On early Meiji era general grade tassels, you can even find on the stem a number of stars corresponding to the rank of the general (brigadier general, major general, etc). See examples of these three types of tassels put on dress swords on Ohmura san's site (they were also worn on full size kyu gunto) : http://ohmura-study.net/771.html (At the bottom, you will see an example of the Navy kyu gunto officer's tassel, which was the same for all ranks) There are also variants of the above-mentioned, with a flat black strap instead of the golden rounded one, introduced in 1912, along with a more rugged completely black and ball-shaped one for combat situations, favoured by the Cavalry. Again from Ohmura's treasure trove: http://ohmura-study.net/771.html Quote
pcfarrar Posted June 27, 2015 Report Posted June 27, 2015 I need one of these http://www.ebay.com/itm/WWII-Japanese-ARMY-Company-Grade-Golden-Military-Sabre-Sword-Tassel-Rope-/371362210426?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5676e9a27a Any around online cheaper? Quote
lonely panet Posted June 28, 2015 Report Posted June 28, 2015 yeah, they pop up from time to time, normally at the 150 range Quote
pcfarrar Posted June 29, 2015 Report Posted June 29, 2015 On 6/28/2015 at 3:43 AM, Hamfish said: yeah, they pop up from time to time, normally at the 150 range Could find any at that price, so I just bought the eBay one. Although I did manage to get the price down to $250. Quote
Johnny Barracuda Posted June 29, 2015 Author Report Posted June 29, 2015 You should have waited, because even at $250, it was overpriced by $100. I was about to point you towards a website where you could have bought one for $125. Quote
pcfarrar Posted June 29, 2015 Report Posted June 29, 2015 On 6/29/2015 at 8:44 AM, Johnny Barracuda said: You should have waited, because even at $250, it was overpriced by $100. I was about to point you towards a website where you could have bought one for $125. It was worse than that I discovered one of my friends had some and I could have had one for free. Which dealer has them listed for $125? Quote
Johnny Barracuda Posted July 27, 2015 Author Report Posted July 27, 2015 Sorry for the late follow-up, here is the link: http://www.germanmilitaria.com/Japanese/01Japanese5.html Quote
Surfson Posted August 20, 2015 Report Posted August 20, 2015 I have one of these on a general grade kyugunto (turtle horn handle with full back strap decoration). It appears not to be gold but have a rainbow/mother of pearl type color to it, although you can't see the colors in this photo. Can anybody tell me what these go for? I am completely in the dark about it and a friend is interested in the sword. Cheers, Surf Quote
lonely panet Posted August 20, 2015 Report Posted August 20, 2015 in that condition, with out the blade only about $1000 USD, the knot is a different story, it appears to be a court/diplomatics tassel and wasn't made to go on a Gernerals Grade Kyu gunto. theses tassels, is one of those things, could sell tomorrow tomorrow or it could be a year, findind some one who wants one is the key, they don't pop up oftern so prob about the 400-600 USD mark. any one care to disscuss this ? Quote
Johnny Barracuda Posted August 26, 2015 Author Report Posted August 26, 2015 If it is full size and not parade, I know I would be interested in the sword! A full-size general grade kyu gunto is rare indeed. As for the sword knot, it was a rather common design during the second half of the 19th century: it could be Japanese (diplomatic as Hamish stated), German, or even from the American Civil War! However, Japanese diplomatic swords are not that popular and most ofter sold with their own knot. So I would value the said knot around $300 to $400. Quote
Surfson Posted August 28, 2015 Report Posted August 28, 2015 Thanks for the information Thibault. Cheers, Bob Quote
Johnny Barracuda Posted August 28, 2015 Author Report Posted August 28, 2015 Do you have other pictures of your kyu gunto? They look pretty interesting. Quote
Surfson Posted September 1, 2015 Report Posted September 1, 2015 I will try to get some together, but it will have to wait a few weeks as I am leaving town for a couple of weeks. Cheers, Bob Quote
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