Don't want to turn this into an investment thread, but can anyone suggest what are the current best-selling Japanese militaria items? Swords, flags, medals? No one can collect everything, but it's more fun getting into an area with lots of collector interest. I guess I would be looking for 3 things - 1) popularity 2) not a lot of fakes, or highly suspect items (simmilar to SS stuff in TR) and 3) available at a reasonable price relative to rarity/desirability. In other words what a beginner could start off with, without getting burned too badly.
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Your too late....(just kidding) However, the Japanese hobby is becoming corrupted also. This isn't scholarly, and just my opinion, but it would seem the most popular items are:
1. Helmets
2. Swords
3. Medals (Marked increase in the last 2 years in popularity)
4. Bayonets
5. Flags
6. Everything else to varying degrees.....pistols, rifles, sake cups, thousand-stitch belts, equipment, uniforms, modified insignia, etc.
1. Helmets - Have skyrocketed in price in the last 2 years. More and more helmets are showing up with "problems", i.e., re-paint, replaced liners and straps, replaced insignia, fake or replaced hardware, etc. Just see some of the threads on here.
2. Swords - Swords have always been the more expensive items in the hobby. There has been a recent proliferation of fakes coming out of China.
3. Medals - I have seen the popularity of medals increase over the last two years, and an increase in availability (especially on ebay). It would seem that prices on ebay have begun to stabilize on the campaign medals in the last few months, but other awards and medals are continuing to increase in so far as sales realized goes. Some fakes are starting to appear and/or post war awards being sold as WWII or earlier.
4. Bayonets - Bayonets are continuing to increase in popularity. I can remember when collectors didn't worry about all the different variations (different arsenals ) and would not even give late war variants a second glance. Prices for bayonets have doubled in the last few years. This Spring a new book is coming out on Japanese bayonets and will surely only increase interest in this area. BTW, fake Japanese bayonets are now entering the market but they are very crude.
5. Flags - Flags are popular but here again one needs to do their homework. Just see some of the threads here, prices are all over the board.
6. Every thing else - Prices on a lot of gear have stabilized and even declined since the advent of ebay. NLF equipment and uniforms have steadily increased and have always been more desirable. Really, the area that meets most of your criteria is sake cups. Another area to "get in on the ground floor" might be specialty badges, however, fakes abound in this area too and prices are not consistent. Another area that has had some neglect is homefront, e.g., woman and youth groups, patriotic paraphernalia, and veterans organizations.
What areas interest you in your current collecting themes? Like everything else the most popular items in the field of Japanese are the most faked and the most expensive.
Zach -
Right now I'm looking at flags & medals, with swords later when I get a bit more money together. Thanks for the comprehensive overview of the Japanese market. At this point I'm trying to also compile a list of dependable dealers & eBay sellers. MikeB has been very helpful here on flags. One thing I do notice is an effort to tie Japanese items to kamikaze pilots, sort of like tying stuff to SS in TR collecting. I'm thinking you have to take some of these stories with a grain of salt - don't see how you can prove it's kamikaze related from the item itself.Comment
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And sake cups!
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Brian,
If you like medals maybe it would a good idea to collect all of the campaign medals, I'm slowly working on this "theme" for my collection . Ebay has quite a number, and at this point most can be had in the original cases and in good condition. Paul Murphy is a member here and is a good resource on the forum for this sort of thing, i.e., identification, value, originality. He alluded to having some for sale in a thread months ago but I never heard further mention?
It is true that a lot of things are misattributed to the Kamikaze, and as SwordFish said, some cups are misattributed and outright fake Kamikaze cups exist. Also, their are a lot of prevailing myths about certain types of infantry equipment being specifically Naval or Naval Landing Forces.
It is true that the NLF had some of their own equipment (gas masks, canteen, breadbag) but be mindful that certain other misattributions continue to be asserted. Zach
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It would be nice if there was a book in English on Japanese medals and insignia ,I see a lot but for all I know they could be badges or medals for one months hard work on the trams or best noodle maker . Flying helmets and goggles are nice but tricky to pick up , and ammo pouch prices seem excessive ,its a growing market and more and more collectors are getting fed up with TR stuff or wanting to branch out so there are fewer items (except if you are cupman)and more collectors .RobGod please take justin bieber and gave us dio backComment
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Navy Landing Force!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( basically everything related to them!)Comment
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Many thanks for the kind comments. Regarding selling stuff, I got tied up in house moving so it will be New Year before I start actively again. My ebay ID is plmurphy so you can expect to see stuff getting listed from January onwards.Originally posted by zachb View PostBrian,
If you like medals maybe it would a good idea to collect all of the campaign medals, I'm slowly working on this "theme" for my collection . Ebay has quite a number, and at this point most can be had in the original cases and in good condition. Paul Murphy is a member here and is a good resource on the forum for this sort of thing, i.e., identification, value, originality. He eluded to having some for sale in a thread months ago but I never heard further mention?
It is true that a lot of things are misattributed to the Kamikaze, and as SwordFish said, some cups are misattributed and outright fake Kamikaze cups exist. Also, their are a lot of prevailing myths about certain types of infantry equipment being specifically Naval or Naval Landing Forces. It is true that the NLF had some of their own equipment (gas masks, canteen, breadbag) but be mindful that certain other misattributions continue to be asserted. Zach
Regarding a book on Japanese badges, if anyone is interested in my book on non governmental badges (and being able to work out whether it is military, patriotic or "best noodle maker") send me a PM.
As for my views, I think helmets and swords have already taken off. Medals are stable but rising slowly. Unofficial badges and home front association items are rising in value, especially Air Defense items or anything to do with wounded soldiers. Sake cups will rise but slowly since there are so many of them out there. My hot tip is the award documents. They are very collectible and I am considering writing a reference book on these next year, which will help to make them more accessible to collectors. Groups of award documents to the same recipient are now very hard to find, even in Japan, but this is not reflected in the price (yet!).
Cheers,
PaulComment
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All of the advice here has merit! The great stumbling blocks with Japanese militaria in the West is the inability of most to read Japanese and the mis-information or myths that still accompany much Japanese material.
Certain areas of collecting have always been "hot", but others are closing in.
Basically, to start with, treat the terms "NLF", "Kamikaze" and "late war" with great caution (or better yet just avoid altogether) until you become more familiar with the game. Salty battlefield pickup items from are very desirable now as more people want items that were "there" instead of unused items from warehouses after the war. Also, medals have become more popular recently than they used to be. I think firearms are a slightly seperate field, but it of course does tie in with everything else. There will be a learning curve to negotiate here and it may take longer with Japanese material than others due to the lack of reference material, but good luck!
CBComment
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Thanks for all the advice. There is a mixture of history & aesthetic appeal in the best of these pieces that make them almost irresistable. If I find a bargain I will have to snap it up. If only my paycheck would stretch a bit farther.....
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