Unusual Sake Bottle

[Larry Lipps]

Have any of you sake cup collectors ever seen a bottle with a plane like this before? I recently picked this up and thought it unusual that it would have the typical army star and crossed flags on one side while having a naval anchor on the other. I went through Dan King's book on sake cups but didn't see anything similar. Any information would be appreciated.

[Larry Lipps]

And the other side.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Larry, I don't collect Japanese items to any extent (having only a couple of flags and some personal effects.) But I enjoy learning and reading about them. I recall a thread some time ago, I think before the advent of this new specialised Japanese forum, which featured this very pattern of bottle with the aircraft on it. I seem to recall that the reaction to it was not positive and the members thought they were repro?


Cheers, Ade.

[Larry Lipps]

That's why I'm posting it Ade, something about it doesn't make sense but it's well out of my league.

[Jareth]

Sorry but that's a known repro bottle.

[Eric Doody]

Larry,

I contacted Dan King on this very issue back in the December timeframe and unfortunately Dan is/was of the opinion that the markings are not original to the bottle. (I had received an e-mail from a fellow collector about a similar bottle so I contacted Dan to see what I could find out about the bottle as a lot of these bottles have surfaced recently.) Dan went onto say that the bottle could be original, but that he (i.e., Dan) was of the opinion that the markings were added to the bottle at some point in time. I hope this addresses your concerns.

Eric

[Eric Doody]

Larry,
<O</O

I should have mentioned that I am of the opinion that the crossed flags and Army star on your bottle appear to be original to the bottle.

Also, that I had contacted several other Japanese militaria collectors around the same time that I had contacted Dan King and the consensus was that the red anchor, red kanji, and red plane were recently added to the bottle.
<O</O

Eric<O</O

[Larry Lipps]

Eric,
With the bottle "in hand" I'm actually about 99% convinced that the plane and writing were not applied at the same time as the flags. This is one of those times I made a snap purchase and had a bad feeling soon as it arrived in the mail. Although I felt certain the flags and plane were applied at different times, I wasn't sure if both could have been pre 45. Still, I couldn't explain the army star on one side and the anchor on the other. The flags may be original to the bottle, but the seller had a plate, sake bottle, and incense burner with the same crossed flags, anchor, and plane design. Just something to keep in mind.

[RussellM]

Here's one of these bottles now on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rare-WWII-Origin...d=p3286.c0.m14

Regards
Russ

[zachb]

See this link also. Sorry Larry.

http://www.imperialjapansakecups.com/fakes.html

[plmurphy]

I purchased a number of these at a flea market in Japan about five or six years ago. They were encrusted in dirt and cost me a few dollars each. The story that the seller had was that a large amount of this material had been found in a disused warehouse in Okinawa and it was believed that it was made up for the units but never used and had been lying there for years gathering dust.

The price I paid for them certainly suggested that the seller was not trying to make a big profit out of the story since I paid no more than you would expect for a normal crossed flag bottle. The only place where they seem to appear for a high price are on ebay etc. In Japan they sometimes appear at the flea markets, normally in scruffy condition and reasonably priced.

I do agree that the "kamikaze" related writing and designs does appear to have been applied at a different time to the crossed flags. It might be useful to try and see if it is applied below or above the glaze but not sure how you could do that.

[RussellM]

And another version on ebay. Different shape to those shown in the link above.

http://cgi.ebay.com/japanese-ww2-KAM...1%7C240%3A1318

Regards
Russ