WW2 Japanese Bayonet flag

[zachb]

PLEASE REMOVE! Thanks

Why?

Sorry to hear about your purchase, but this thread needs to be here so if others utilize the search function they can see what a fake Japanese flag looks like.

[Bob Coleman]

Congratulations on getting your refund. However, I think the thread should remain as a learning tool for others.

[613chad10]

good point, leave it on

[613chad10]

Thanks for your help guys

[mcmike]

Say, did you buy that flag from a guy whose name rhymes with Bupman?

[FightenIrish35]

^If you did get it from a fellow named Cupman,id say never buy from him,one of my first flags I bouht was from him and it turned out to be a fake with his famout fake stampings....he is NOTORIOUS for his "extra stamps"...ive had conversation threw email with him and he admits that all his items are 100 percents ww2 period as well as the stamps being original,which we all know is a bunch of BS....glad to here you did get your refund,and dont feel to bad buying a fake thinking its real it has happened to us all!! take care and good hunting!!^

[613chad10]

no i didnt buy it from a guy with that name, but i cant see it being a fake, for he has pictures with the vet it got it from with all the stuff the vet had brought home from the war, the guy didnt no what the hell the flag was, so he let me have it for cheap.

[613chad10]

maybe im wrong

[mcmike]

maybe im wrong

If Nick, whom is fluent in Japanese, says it's fake then it is fake. I proudly posted my first flag last year only to find out that it was probably a SeaBee (or other serviceman) made fake from the period. These were made especially to sell to other servicemen.

So you can be assured that yours is fake, and count yourself amongst the many who have fallen for that old gag. I have kept mine as a true relic of American wartime capitalism; in other words, a "genuine fake". As such it does have its own value.

From the pics yours does look very fresh and new. This can lead us to a couple of possibilities:

1. If it was period made it was stored in extremely beneficial circumstances to have retained this appearance; or,

2. The soldier reminisced about "the good ol' days" with his buddies and had a flag made for his own memories, probably using the original pic as a model. The artist just made the kanji as close as possible to the image in the pic. The soldier didn't know kanji (just like you and me) and was happy with the result.

Therefore you can either return the flag and get your money back, or request a copy of the picture to keep as provenance that yours is a genuine fake. Then, as others have pointed out numerous times on this forum, study the subject and buy a real one. Good luck!!

[613chad10]

Thanks, i think ill just get my money back. i do have a have nice original one, but i think this one is to mush in good shape to be original, so im going to do the refund.

[MikeB]

WW2 Japanese Bayonet Flag

Hello Chad-
Thanks again for your email a few days ago. Glad to see your "bayonet flag" made it on to the Forum for discussion. Calling a Japanese signed flag a bayonet flag is rather a misnomer. They were often attached to rifles, bayonets, etc. by tie strings but were normally the same flag given the soldier at the time he was sent off to war. The term "bayonet flag" seems to imply that this was a special or different kind of flag. It is not...
Not much else to say about your item that has not already been said. The only thing I might add is sort of a piggy back on Nick's comment. Your flag appears to be a newly made, fake of a fake (if that's possible!) Most of these types of flag at least appear to be vintage made. Yours looks freshly minted. Hope you get a refund from the seller. mikeb