This stamp bothers me.....

[maverick87]

On ebay, I recently saw a stamp used by military censors for documents that I believe allows souvenirs to be brought home.

http://cgi.ebay.com/WW2-Armed-Forces...item3f096b3479

just the idea that that kind of stamp is around bothers me and should be noted, in case you see "bring back" papers in the future with that particular stamp and serial number, you can know that they are probably fake documents.

Anyways, careful of this stamp and serial number floating around on documents in the future.

[Papa Nambu]

I will try to buy it myself and keep it out of dishonest hands. These weren't used on bring back papers but rather stamped right on captured documents and photos to show they had no (or no further) intelligence value and were ok to keep as souvenirs.

[JCB]

yikes....

Lets hope Cupman doesn't get a hold of it!

Jim

JapaneseOrdnance(at)yahoo.com


Japanese Ordnance Page: http://www.castle-thunder.com/wforum...opic.php?t=976

[Papa Nambu]

Taking another look at it, I think this was used on mail. The stamp we usually see on captured photos and documents says "Examined in the Field"

[MikeB]

This stamp bothers me.........

There were varieties of the triangular stamp (these were supposed to be used on paperwork/paper items) placed on flags and senninbari. For added discussion, you can see in my book on page 117 a similar triangular stamp that was placed on a bring back document. That document is in my collection and it shows the soldier requested permission to return with a Japanese rifle, Japanese bayonet, 2 flags, a mortar round and some photographs. I suppose we could imagine that the triangular stamp may have been placed on the bring back doc (paperwork) and then the correct round stamp, etc. may then have been placed upon the flag, senninbari, etc. I think that's a bit of a stretch, however. While specific intel stamps were to be used depending on the type of item to be cleared, experience has shown that some pieces have "mixy-matchy" stamps on them. I would guess that in some cases, the key was to simply have your item stamped...no matter what the shape. mikeb

[Dmv]

There were varieties of the triangular stamp (these were supposed to be used on paperwork/paper items) placed on flags and senninbari. For added discussion, you can see in my book on page 117 a similar triangular stamp that was placed on a bring back document. That document is in my collection and it shows the soldier requested permission to return with a Japanese rifle, Japanese bayonet, 2 flags, a mortar round and some photographs. I suppose we could imagine that the triangular stamp may have been placed on the bring back doc (paperwork) and then the correct round stamp, etc. may then have been placed upon the flag, senninbari, etc. I think that's a bit of a stretch, however. While specific intel stamps were to be used depending on the type of item to be cleared, experience has shown that some pieces have "mixy-matchy" stamps on them. I would guess that in some cases, the key was to simply have your item stamped...no matter what the shape. mikeb

Hello Mike, what is the name of your book? Could you post a photo of the stamp on the doc you are referring to?

About the stamp; if it's talking about censor, shouldn't this one be for documents? There's not much to censor on a flag or piece of equipment right?...
And is it for captured axis papers or for US mail sent home and being censored?

[MikeB]

This stamp bothers me...

Hi Dmv-
The title of the book is Imperial Japanese Good Luck Flags and One-Thousand Stitch Belts. It was published by Schiffer Books of Atglen, PA in June of 2008. Theoretically, everything that was captured in the field was supposed to be cleared by the censors/intel guys. The "stamp" or "seal of approval" was supposed to be pressed onto any captured item being brought back from the field. Larger or heavier items were supposed to be tagged with paper tags to I.D. them. These were supposed to indicate that the larger item was examined and okay'd to be shipped home or brought back. Examples of these are shown in my book as well. The shape of the stamp was supposed to indicate the type of souvenir material being reviewed and indicated either passed or rejected by intel (the triangle shaped stamp was generally placed upon anything made of paper or considered ephemera.) If an item was deemed unimportant or of little intel value for the war effort, the censors/intel guys would allow the piece to permanently pass into the hands of the military person requesting to keep it. It appears that nearly everything containing Japanese characters was supposed to be examined and either passed by joint intel or censored and rejected. Flags were reviewed and stamped because they were covered in characters. Senninbari were examined for the same reason. As another example, photographs of civilians, images of family members or military style pictures torn from the pockets or photo albums of the captureed or deceased, were stamped as well. These sometimes show the triangular stamp (ephemera,) but more commonly show the round stamp that might read, "Cleared by Joint Intelligence," "Cleared by Intelligence," "Passed in the Field," "Passed in the Field By Joint Intelligence," etc. that are usually seen on cloth items and others.
A good next question might be to ask, "How many of these items actually passed over the censors table and were stamped?" My guess, based upon the number of flags and one thousand stitch belts that I have examined over the years is probably very few. Most items seen today were left unstamped, a small percentage were stamped correctly and even fewer were stamped with the incorrect stamp (I called these "mixy matchy" in my previous post.) MikeB