WW2 British Royal Engineers faking swords to sell to the Yanks in Calcutta

[Pippo]

Just reading an old 2003 Biography of a British RHA officers war experiences against the Japanese in Burma and came across a section towards the end of the war where the Japanese were in full retreat and how in the mopping up the Brits were paying particular attention to grabbing Japanese swords as the Americans were paying exhorbitant money for them, so much so that the Royal Engineers were making them up in Calcutta out of jeep springs. 

Had anyone else come across knowledge of this? Im wondering if clearly copy old swords ( not the obvious crap coming out of China) could be examples. The books a good read of a horrendous campaign but thought this curious 2 lines might be of interest.

[Dave R]

It's been known and mentioned on here loads of times when discussing "Island Swords". The Australians and even the C-Bees engaged in the fake trade as well.

[Bugyotsuji]

Thousands of swords and guns were bundled up and dropped in rivers and the sea.

[Bruce Pennington]

Richard Fuller has a page discussing the practice, too.  He notes the difficulty in distinguishing them from the legitimate late war gunto, but his points highlight art and details that were never part of legitimate gunto. 

 

I agree that some of the odd-ball ones we come across could be from these guys.