"ersatz Sword" Made In Occupied Territories

[paul griff]

Hello,

         A nice example of an "Ersatz" or Occupied territory made sword...Despite initially thinking it was "crude", on closer inspection I found it to be very well made..Blade is nice and tight in the hilt with the mekugi having been only just removed prior to me buying it.... ( I wouldn,t have bothered ! ) Leather nice and supple wih only the retaining strap broken ,original field grade officers tassel and rare to find leather foul weather hilt cover .Flag is a bit stained and yellow although looks white in photo's..Medal a bit worn and dented but complete,,Described on the old dealer label as " Surrender package"....Makes a nice display ( If your allowed to do so )...!!

                                                                                                                                                                                                  Regards,

                                                                                                                                                                                                                Paul.

[Bruce Pennington]

Nice find Paul! The blade looks almost short enough to be waki-length. What's the cutting edge legnth?

[Dave R]

Hmmm, I have reservations about this one. A nice "surrender package" is just a matter of going through the bits box if you are a dealer or a collector.

 I have a photo file of non standard and "Island" swords because they intrigue me. This looks more like a Sea-Bee special with some genuine parts. 

[Stegel]

Paul, nice find, i always find these interesting pieces.

 

Dave, i think the sword is fine, but agree and would say that the tassel and tsuka cover were added to this piece. What do you think?

[paul griff]

Hello,

Bruce,yes,your right 22.5 ins... Dave,again yes looks like a " Christmas special " three for two...! All the items are genuine but whether they arrived together originally who knows ? Stegal , I'm a bit lacking in photographic skills otherwise I'd be able to show the tsuka and tassel have the same 'dirt' or 'mud' ingrained in the material...I haven't cleaned it but just applied a leather dressing and that's the feel of the 'stuff' that was left on the cloth....The tsuka cover fits perfectly even a flap is worn when you put it on and the tassel exits it...Leather has same tone as saya cover..It's only when you see it "in the flesh" it looks as if it all belongs together...! Got this and one other late war emergency issue sword that had the permission to bring back slip with it ( friend now has that )...

I swore I wouldn't buy any more gunto...In fact been trying to save to get something really special....But I just can't resist...!

This was the one a Chinese chap that I mentioned in another post was trying to buy off me to send back to China...I found it quite ironic that somewhere down the line you will have a copy of a copy ! He couldn't get that ! Nice chap though,very polite.....Interesting journey...!

Regards,

Paul...