IJA Major/Colonel sword tassel

**Alan M** · 11-21-2015, 01:31 PM

I picked this up a while back and although it has issues , it is a period veteran , which is important to me , as was the cost which was reasonable for a quite scarce item ( Mint ones go for quite big bucks ) . The colours are still reasonable for the age .The main issue is that it has been cut through the main strand in two places and then knotted back together . This was done a long time ago as the knots are well set . I wondered if it had been cut to remove something from it .....the reason i ask this is because it has a leather toggle still attached . Also it has a strip of leather still attached to the knot (where it was attached to the sword ) which was probably used as a substitute sarute , you can see the original stitch in the leather where it was originally put on the sword and where the leather itself actually came apart . The guy i got this from said it was on a sword he got 20 years ago from a guy in Florida and that it was like that when he got it . He had just recently moved that sword on ( i would have liked to have seen it !! ) but couldn't find the tassel at the time as it was off the sword and he had kept it in a zipper bag in a draw all that time ( my good fortune he found it later

) Anyhow i just wondered if anyone had encountered the like of this before ?

**Rod** · 11-23-2015, 01:24 PM

Hi Alan,

That's a great find, even funky as it is.

Just my opinion but the damage is post war screwing around, I'm amazed that whom ever did that didn't pitch it afterward.

The leather slider looks like it may have come from a Japanese pistol lanyard. If it were mine I'd think about taking the knots out, the leather piece off, and looking at carefully sewing the two pieces together.

Regardless of what you do, the tassel end is in fine condition. Great score, these are hard to find!

Best, Rod

**Alan M** · 11-23-2015, 08:26 PM

Hi Rod , thanks for your response , your opinion is appreciated

I tend to agree your thoughts on this piece , when it was cut through i don't know , the knots have been like that for a long time and are " welded " into position . My wife is a seamstress and i have discussed with her about the possibility of doing an invisible mend but thinks it may not be a great idea as it may be a little delicate with all the loose threads . I never usually mess with pieces in my collection and prefer to keep them as found but i can see the advantage in this case of trying to improve its condition .....i'm still toying with the idea

Also thanks for your thoughts about the leather slider , i will delve deeper into that as i had no clue as to what it is

Thanks again
Al

**Rod** · 11-24-2015, 01:23 AM

Hi Alan,

You could buy yourself a bottle of good scotch and decide what to do with the tassel after imbibing a fair amount.

I'm with you when it comes to not messing with artifacts, but occasionally for whatever reason a piece can be made right or restored for the better. I'm sure not saying that's the case with this one and it sounds like you have a great consultant on hand.

If you search the gunboards 'Firearms of the Rising Sun' forum there are numerous threads on Japanese lanyards. It's just my impression that your leather slider is suspiciously like one of those.

Cheers, Rod