Ww2 Japanese sword

[burban89]

Here's a sword I picked up years ago but is one I really cherish. It walked in with an old man and his grandson to a somewhat big gun show we had at the time. I watched them go from interested dealer to interested dealer and one by one kept saying that the sword was fake and from what I could hear they were offering him next to nothing for it. The sword ended up by my friend's table that I was helping him with by helping him sell some militaria. I took a look at the sword and realized it was a real ww2 sword but wondered why no one would offer a good price. The old man told me that when he was in the marines during the war he ended up on Okinawa where during a patrol his CO threw a grenade into a cave and after the explosion his unit went inside to find several rifles, a couple of swords, and a flag. He ended up with this sword and a rifle as his war prizes. Not fully knowing what this sword was actually worth I offered him $500 for it and he happily accepted it saying that it was more than double what everyone else who saw it offered him. Since I also expressed an interest in knowing about his rifle he asked his grandson to go out to the car to bring the rifle in and what I saw was probably one of the best time capsule rifles I've ever seen. It was a normal type 99 but it was slathered with cosmoline and had been wrapped up in a cloth tarp since 1945 and never shot. The old man said his grandson wanted the rifle but had no interest in the sword, hence why he was trying to sell it. I told him what info I could about his rifle (arsenal, approximate year of manufacture, etc.) and they both left not long after that. I got home and after some research I found out that this variant of sword is highly desirable due to the lacquer finish of the grip wrapping and was easily worth double what I paid for it. Now it sits with a place of honor among my Japanese display in my room for all to see.

[Urbanwolf]

Nice score! Great looking score and nice backround on it!

[Markeb2800]

Very nice. Glad it ended up with someone who appreciates it.

[toot]

you really scored !! i just wish i knew more about them.