Some Japanese flags came into the shop today...

[Milton]

...and here are some pix. National flag w/ OOODLES of Kanji and nice temple stamp and a nice army flag.

[Milton]

...Navy flag, near mint. All are nice display sizes, appx. 3 x 2 or so. Can't complain about the condition of any of 'em, but the navy flag is the cleanest and has nice triangular leather corner ties.

[Milton]

close up...

[Tim B.]

Well, not an expert but, they look very nice to me.

On the Army flag, is that a die stain/run at the 1 o'clock position?
Tim

[Paul G]

They look like nice clean flags IMO.

PG-

[GCG1964]

Very nice indeed, are you planning to frame the kanji, I just had mine done and it looks a treat. Will send a photo if you'd like.

Graham.

[Budo45]

not my area of study, id say the Navy is new, the stitch running off the leather would be a flag to me

[Milton]

Hello gents. No, nothing "new" here. The provenance on these is pretty much air-tight. Regarding the slight off-run on the corner stitching on the navy, I have to believe that even the most fastidious seamstress might've had an occasional miss or two, especially on something so mass produced as these flags must've been during the war. "Perfection" or lack thereof is certainly not a "flag" for me, (no pun intended!) especially regarding Japanese militaria. Regarding the stain on the army flag, yes, probably a slight dye stain (also not perfection, sorry to say...) Thanks for the comments gents.

[Budo45]

waiting for others take on the Navy, leather and cord and flag still look new to me, been around enough (yes that means im old) to tell a copy from real. ill be the first to say im wrong when the flag guys flog me if its not a copy.

[S. McKibben]

If you look at all the tabs in Mikes book none of them have stitching like the Ray Flag.Dont look right to me but thats just my opinion.

[Milton]

Ok guys, I'll mention it to the vet who brought them in...maybe a trick of memory??

[Tim B.]

Personally, I'd ask about the Army one as well.
Tim

[Milton]

No worries gents. Tim, by what possible criteria would you question the army, especially sans close ups of any details? Paranoia runs rampant, it seems. Curse of this hobby these days, unfortunately. The flag came from the brother of an Okinawa vet, now unfortunately deceased.

[Tim B.]

Milton,

Is it really always attributed to paranoia when someone asks questions and doesn't hear what they "want to hear"???

I said the flags looked nice, but let's face it; the rayed flags are mint or damn close to it. Most originals that I see are not this "new" looking.

As mentioned by others here, the construction of the tabs on the Navy flag are not what most collectors have seen compared to other period originals. This is not to say they are right and maybe they haven't seen "everything" style and construction wise, but you have to take what the other collectors offer here when you post items asking for opinions.

If you believe your stories, and heaven knows there are tons of them out there (some are even factual) and disregard the item in question as it stands alone on it's own merits, then plan to lose some money down the road. That's my opinion on collecting. Stories are great and add history to a specific piece, however, it has to be real to begin with.

As far as the Army flag, I don't like the run personally, but as I stated in my first post, I am not an expert on these items.

Enjoy it and I'm sure these will probably be posted on the estand soon??

Oh, btw, I do like the prayer flag.
Tim

[Milton]

Hello again Tim. Thanks for your posts, but in all honesty, I wasn't shopping for any approval on these flags, just wanted to post them for the forum to see, and of course, commentary is always welcome. These flags came to me via a direct veteran family purchase, and that's not to say that even THESE items are "infallible" I do believe however, that the collecting community does put too much emphasis on what WE want to believe is "gospel" relating to this material in general. If a simple dye run, or a tiny bit of off-center stitching on a mass produced flag is going to cause so much consternation, it's a bit of an indication of the overall over-reaction of the collecting community to anything that's even slightly outside the norm of what latter day collectors "expect" to see. Lord knows, there are enough collectors out there who'll dismiss German helmets w/ slightly crooked, or off-center applied decals, field modified or marked gear "that'd NEVER happen" etc, etc...it's just too bad that these things aren't looked at with more of an eye for the reality of wartime expediency in manufacturing techniques and the results thereof. Granted, the influx of so many fakes in the marketplace result in such paranoia and caution today for good reason ($$$). I do however, procure the vast quantity of my wares directly from veteran or estate sources, which lends itself to a much better chance of pieces being legit...not totally infallible, however. If you're of the impression that the leather tabs are period-incorrect, I suppose this will play itself out in time w/ more input from other sources and reference material. Is it the leather itself that bothers you, or the slight stitching off-run? As for the prayer flag, yes, that's probably my favorite in the group. The army flag is a close second (and trust me, it's original, slight dye run notwithstanding). Thx again for taking the time to comment! I'm interested though, as to why you changed your commentary from "thumbs up" to "thumbs down"..simply the stitching or the material, or both? And lastly to answer your question, no, the prayer flag and navy flag are already spoken for, so they won't be on the estand, sorry. The army and the two nationals, perhaps..(but I'm not of the impression you'll be pm'ing me for any of those?!!)