Juyo swords found in Shin Gunto Koshirae

[sbf]

Steve,

I remember that auction! Wasn't he nihonto777 or the such? A lot of high quality blades, he sold. Unless it was a private seller, I can't recall. All I remember is a near mint Gassan Sadakatsu with high quality fittings with a general frade tassel.

The story was that the Marine who found it was taken by a Japanese POW to the graves of two high ranking officers and this blade was on top. Stayed with the family until 2005(?) when it was sold on eBay. Right before Letters of Iwo Jima came out if I remember, but sounds supiciously like the end of the movie, so coulda been after. I'm pretty sure it was right beforehand. Last I recall, it sold for 20k.

No, the seller was a private individual in upstate New York. He didn’t know what he had, just said it was a samurai sword brought back from Iwo Jima, and that some of the proceeds were going to be donated to some charity. He was clearly an inexperienced ebayer, and I knew the sharks would be circling bombarding him with lowball offers. Although I wasn’t in a position to buy it at the time, I wrote the seller urging him to resist the offers and let the auction run its course, simply because I hate to see anyone get fleeced. He responded, thanking me and explained the whole story. The sword was brought back by his brother(a Marine) from Iwo Jima. He had recently passed away, and the seller was selling it for the widow. He had no idea it was so valuable. He sent me a copy of a photo showing the guy cutting his wedding cake with it after the war! It ended up going for 15k. After the auction he again thanked me. He clearly idolized his brother, who went on to a career in the Secret Service. I had no reason to doubt his story, and still believe it had a very real chance of being Kuribayashi’s sword. Regardless, it was a beautiful Gassan in high end mounts with a general’s tassel.

 

Steve

[Kolekt-To]

Per request, I will post photos of the Sanemori sword here - originally posted earlier today under the "Show us your high-class Gunto" thread in Military Swords of Japan category on this board. I had the pleasure of visiting with my local mentor again recently and this is one of the swords he showed me. This sword had been in Japan for months waiting to be papered. My mentor received it back last week. A fine Gunto indeed!