Recently I snagged a katana

for my room as a decoration.

In case you do not know what a katana is, it is a Japanese sword, often called a samurai sword.

This one is not a World War 2 bring back, as those are pretty damned expensive and I am not a collector. I just wanted a katana for a special room I have and didn’t want to have to cough up a small fortune for it.

I got it for $20 and it will do the trick as far as looking like a casual piece for my room goes. The repro will look just fine there.

Over the past couple of years I have chatted with a couple of old men that served during WW2. I have asked them about their souvenirs and bring backs and several of them have gone into either shock or disbelief when I tell them what their stuff is worth.

One old timer was shocked when I told him what a Luger is selling for. “Why, I traded that for a bottle of cognac I got from a German cellar,” he said. “I didn’t like the taste of hard liquor back then so I traded the bottle for the Luger. I guess I had better lock it up instead of keeping it on the mantle.”

I would say so.

When I went looking for the katana I was mildly surprised to see how many reproductions were out there for sale.

I spent a couple of hours looking at the available things that are out there for sale and compared prices of the original item and the current prices for reproductions.

It is astonishing. A pair of the 2 buckled WW2 GI boots are now running between $100 and $150, and sometimes more. I would imagine they cost Uncle Sam two or three bucks a pair back in the day.

A re-enactors uniform now probably could run a guy several hundred bucks unless he can score an original out of an attic somewhere.

On the other hand, God only knows what something original is worth.

A couple of years back I saw an old Marine show up at Camp Perry, Ohio with his complete Marine Corps footlocker that he wanted to show the Marines shooting there and was astonished when someone offered him well over two grand for the whole kit.

Someone else was decent and told him to get it appraised.

My advice to anyone out there that has elderly relatives with an attic full of stuff is to have it appraised.

You never know what some musty old thing in the attic is worth.

What irks me is the stuff I had as a kid and tore up playing with. I could probably be retired now had I known what I do now.

my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/