Searching For An Ebay Seller

[jeep44]

I have been a long-time buyer of Japanese swords, mainly at local gunshows and militaria shows. I sometimes picked up a nice sword with a damaged or missing scabbard, and then I would look on ebay for parts to repair them. About 5 years or more ago, I bought a group of three empty scabbards from a seller on ebay. Two were leather-covered WW2 vintage field scabbards, and one was just a bare black-laquered wood scabbard. They came to me in a triangular cardboard shipping box.

   Why I ask is this: Tonight I was seeing if a sword I purchased on saturday at a local show might fit in one of these scabbards. The habaki was tight, and when I withdrew the sword, it pulled the thin wood liner out with it. Crammed down at the bottom was a business card from a US Navy Rear Admiral, with handwritten notes on it detailing a very interesting history of the sword that scabbard once held. This sword had been captured in one of the last surface actions by the US Navy in WW2, and had been presented to Admiral E J King. Here is the card, and the scabbard it was in:

 

Hopefully, someone here might recognize this scabbard, or at least remember selling three empty ones as a lot on ebay. I would be able to tell if that sellers ebay name appeared in my feedback. It would be very exciting to track that sword down and provide a fascinating history for it. According to the card, the sword was captured Aug 20,1945 by a Lt Swentzel, US Navy, who was commanding a Chinese junk with both American sailors and Chinese guerrillas on board, when they were attacked by a Japanese war junk with 83 men on board. In a three hour running battle n. of Haimen, They captured the junk, and this sword was surrendered by the captain. This action is detailed in the Official Chronology of the US Navy in WW2.

[jeep44]

Here are the other two scabbards I got from the same seller in addition to the one above:

[Greg F]

Hello Douglas,

 

I find your story very interesting and I think its a great thing your doing even though its a long shot somebody here may have some info that can help. I guess youve tried looking at as many sellers on ebay that are selling Nihonto related items? Do you remember what country they were sent from? I really hope you can accomplish this, a great piece of history for the sword and its custodian! Good luck and all the best.

 

Greg

[jeep44]

I can see all the names of people who have left me feedback, but nothing more-not even the date of the transaction. All I know is that it was a US-based seller. When I get a bit more time, I'll look at the current sellers on ebay, and compare them to my sellers.  Unfortunately, Ebay doesn't seem to flag the names of someone I've bought from before going back that far, and I notice that many of the sellers from the likely period in my feedback are no longer active, or have anything to sell at this time. It's not going to be easy to find this seller.

[ggil]

maybe go to paypal and look up history, or call them on the phone.  Their records should be better, maybe. 

 

-Grant

[jeep44]

I have well over 1000 feedbacks, and this was years ago. None of the sellers from back then have an ebay handle even suggesting anything to do with Japanese militaria or swords. I can only hope the seller will see this post, or my post on a WW2 Japanese sword page on Facebook. Here's some more info on how this sword was surrendered to the US Navy:   http://www.saconavy.com/Camps/Camp_8.htm

[ggil]

Call paypal and/or ebay.  Maybe they can access their old databases for you.  Given the fact that it is philanthropy you are up to, maybe worth a shot!

[Stephen]

id think youd have better luck finding the family of Navy Rear Admiral, than ebay seller that far back, heck i could not find a buyer from march this year, of a tsuba im buying back.....then went to PP and found his contact there, best of luck, try the family im sure they would be happy to have the little slip of paper.