Many were destroyed (dumped into the ocean, I’ve seen a picture of swords being fed into a furnace) but many thousands more were not. Each GI in the occupation could ask for a pistol, rifle or sword that had been confiscated. The pistols were the most popular but many brought home swords. I have heard that back in the 1960s any pawn shop near a military base would have a barrel full of swords. Even today if you go to a bigger gun show in the US there will usually be at least one old Japanese sword that is a GI bring back.
So it is quite plausible that the missing Masamune is in somebody’s attic. Or it was given to the grandkids to play pirate and rusted away to nothing. Could go either way.
I think that was a pretty common scam back in the day. Someone would come along saying that he knew there was buried treasure on your land because he could tell by the features, or he had a secret map, or he saw it with his magic peep stone that only works for him, and all you had to do was pay him today with some of the riches you’d have tomorrow. Joseph Smith did this for a few years and then turned it into a whole religion.
It wasn’t sent as registered mail (or whatever the equivalent in Canada is), just as an ordinary parcel, supposedly to save a few dollars. Plus dies for both sides were sent in the same box; the mint’s budget must have been really tight.
Due to its immense value, detectives were assigned to a steamboat that was rumoured to be carrying the stone, and a parcel was ceremoniously locked in the captain’s safe and guarded on the entire journey. It was a diversionary tactic – the stone on that ship was fake, meant to attract those who would be interested in stealing it. Cullinan was sent to the United Kingdom in a plain box via registered post.
On a slightly-related note, the Great Mogul Diamond, at the time the largest cut diamond in the world, disappeared following the sack of Delhi in 1739 and has been called the most valuable object ever lost.
Many scholars believe it was recut and is now part of the Russian crown jewels as the Orlov Diamond, but proof is lacking.
The larger but less famous Nizam Diamond has not been seen since the Indian annexation of Hyderabad in 1948.
My late friend was a Korean war veteran (interesting stories) who spent time in Japan for rehab. He had a Samurai sword - I probably still have a picture of it somewhere. Not sure what its provenance was. He had tall tales about haow easily it went through anything. Researching it, I found there was a category of “samurai sword” that was a mass-produced Japanese Officer’s sword that all the army officers received before WWII. A genuine historical sword would be worth serous bucks, but apparently these mass-produced swords looked similar but have nowhere near the historical value.
Also, some old families might have sold their ancestor’s sword in order to eat, times were tough after WWII.
I’m not sure which he had. I don’t know what his sister’s family did with it when he died.
Rome
CNN
—
A painting by the 15th-century master Sandro Botticelli, recorded as missing since the 1980s, has been found at a home in southern Italy.
The depiction of the Virgin Mary and infant Christ was discovered in a home in the town of Gragnano, near Naples, according to the Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Unit of Naples.
I have to think maybe they are still somewhere, but the recent passing of Apollo astronaut Frank Borman reminded me of an interview with Jim Lovell, during one of their crew reunions, unbeknownst to anyone onboard (as a kind of attaboy for a truly historic exploration), there were three apertifs or brandy rations hidden in their food locker, think small airline bottles of hooch.
Borman nixxed anybody drinking on Apollo 8, and I’m not sure what happened to them after that. Probably on display somewhere? They would be collectible, as “space flown” items with good provenance can be worth some bucks.
“… a mind is a terrible thing.” Jim Lovell, though Frank wouldn’t let him drink his hooch ration onboard, he apparently took it home with him, and auctioned it off in 2008. So the mystery deepens, there should be two more out there.
So my own post reminded me of another missing artifact - Buzz Aldrin had a watch, maybe the watch he wore on the lunar surface turn up missing. He mailed it to NASA or the Smithsonian or somebody (too lazy to look it up) at some later date, and that was the last anybody saw of it.
Sometime in the 60s, a naval ship happened to notice a big chunk of ice broken off the Ross Ice Shelf, which exposed a buried Little America exploration station abandoned since the beginning of WW2.
The Snow Cruiser was parked nearby, and also buried by snow and ice.
I’m 99% sure the cruiser sand to the bottom of the sea when the iceberg melted, but there is the possibility the Soviets recovered the vehicle, and used it as a basis for their antarctic vehicles…
…The Kharkovchankas. Oversnow heavy tractor Kharkovchanka - Kharkovchanka - Wikipedia
How about the camera that Andrew Irvine carried when he may, or may not, have summited Everest in 1924, nearly 30 years before it was officially conquered. The body of his climbing partner George Mallory (he of the “because it’s there” quote) was found in 1999 but Irvine’s body, and the camera, has proved elusive.
I have a friend who is the daughter of one of the Apollo astronauts. She and her mother have several pieces of jewelry that have been made from moon rocks that he brought back.
As a climber in my past life, this would a fabulous find - if it’s ever made. But this isn’t as much of a mystery as a needle in a haystack. We know what happened to it - we even have a good idea where.
With climate change being what it is, maybe they will re-surface someday.
