How were Japanese "souvenier" swords marked for GI's taking them home if at all?

[chango]

I recently bought what I thought was a junk sword/WWII take-home which turned out to be a Shinto era piece from the mid to late 1600s. I was told the previous owner got it from her uncle's estate; her uncle died about 40 years ago and it was believed he brought it back from WWII:
Here's a gallery of pics if you're interested: https://imgur.co/a/1gy2V

I've since learned it's signed "Sesshu Ju Fujiwara Tadayuki"... a smith who was the younger brother of the famous Tadatsuna and was active in the 1660s. It has fairly high-end (Higo style) fittings, including a rare "Botan same" saya but it's otherwise in pretty rough shape.



My main question is about some orange number scribbles on the saya:



I thought I remembered something about orange painted serial numbers put on souvenir swords shipped back to the states but I can't find anything about it... anybody know?

My other thought is that it might be a sales price written right onto the saya once upon a time. All I can make out on it is the number '3". Thanks for any help or info you can share with me.

[chango]

Can't get the link to work... here are some more pics:

[ghp95134]

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The orange looks like a price tag. It looks like 35.00 to me.
To place the $35 price in context: an unmarried private E1 made $35 ($45 if overseas) per month in 1944 [and a soldier in the 1880s also made $30/month). See Barron's National Business and Financial Weekly, April 24, 1944 for other rank comparisons .... they are annual sums, so divide by 12.

--Guy