The scars of conflict…….

[Matsunoki]

https://www.the-sale...cf47a97234735e07c7a0

[Banton989]

Oof, that's been through the wars.... what a great piece of history frozen in time though.

[Bruce Pennington]

Posting photos for when the link goes dead

 

[lonely panet]

That will surely polish out

[paul griff]

This one was picked up off the battlefield and brought back to the U.K…….I like it for what it is…a part of history..
Regards,

             Paul.

[raaay]

Hi Colin , i think the auction house estimate,  may be bit over the top for this item  ??

[Matsunoki]

25 minutes ago, raaay said:

Hi Colin , i think the auction house estimate,  may be bit over the top for this item  ??

Hi Ray….yes, interesting isn’t it?

From the perspective of collecting Japanese swords I agree…..it’s a write-off and thus effectively worth nothing! However I guess not everyone will see it that way?. Some will see it as a remarkable survivor from a(nother) tragic period in human history. It vividly illustrates the violent impact of conflict and it makes me wonder about the poor soldier that carried it. That will resonate with a different species of collector ….but whether they see it at that £level….we must wait and see.

Really it should be in a military museum.

[Grey Doffin]

I think there is a good chance this and many other swords from WWII with bullet holes through the saya suffered the damage after the war when a couple of GIs  thought it would be cool to have a bullet hit sword and did the deed. We'll never know for sure, of course, but this one with 3 hits seems a bit suspicious.

Grey

[Matsunoki]

4 minutes ago, Grey Doffin said:

but this one with 3 hits seems a bit suspicious.

To my eyes the damage looks nothing like rifle round impacts. It looks like extremely violent jagged shrapnel damage especially to the tsuba. Together with the considerable corrosion etc it looks entirely plausible as a genuine battlefield pickup. ….imo….but I agree…..we will never know for sure 

[John C]

I agree with Colin. Firstly, it looks like grenade fragmentation to me. Secondly, it's important to give respect to the individual's memory as he most likely did not survive.

 

John C.

[Tensho]

A little overzealous on the auction price considering the damage unrelated to battle damage...

 

Someone obviously removed the tsuka at one point in time, considering its missing a few seppa. Also, one of them appears to be "upside down" and should be on the habaki side. I guess one could argue that they got "blown off" but very unlikely.  

 

Verdigris damage on the menuki is a real pita to try and remove. 

 

Otherwise a neat piece of history and I can only see battle damaged gunto going up. In the firearms world it definitely increased.