Hi,
I find myself in the position of acquiring a decent quantity of larger calibre projectiles from Japan. Most of them are early ones, roughly from the period 1900 - 1918. They are located in Japan, and as some of you will know, not quite everything encountered over there is of Japanese manufacture.
I have managed to ID everything, except for four projectiles. This is one of them. It looks like nothing Japanese that I have documentation on, which would be the stuff used by Japan in (mainly) the later Showa era.
This particular projectile has commemorative markings of the Russo-Japanese war (1904-1905) and I believe it is likely to be a captured Russian projectile. The diameter seems to be around 85mm and the length of the shown part is around 250mm.
I know the Japanese used a 90mm calibre weapon that was apparently such short range that they referred to it as a 'mortar'; it was definitely breech-loaded though. The documentation I have on rounds for that 90mm calibre looks in no respects like this particular projectile. There is a 120mm Japanese shrapnel projectile that looks something like it, but no documented stuff in 85mm - 90mm calibre.
It seems there are no manufacturer markings on the projectile, and the missing driving band doesn't help either... The 'ring' at the mouth is odd too. No idea what purpose that serves; maybe this was added later by someone?!?
The questions:
1-Can anyone ID it for me?
2-Russian? Japanese? Something else???
3-Does anyone have any idea what the value of this might be? If I buy it, it will come with a pretty hefty price tag (item + shipping costs from Japan are expensive).
4-In case it is not Japanese (or Japanese used), is anyone particularly interested in it?
Thanks in advance and cheers,
Olafo
PS: The other shown projectiles (for comparison purposes) are Japanese HE and Shrapnel projectiles, all 75mm, several different types and lengths.
I find myself in the position of acquiring a decent quantity of larger calibre projectiles from Japan. Most of them are early ones, roughly from the period 1900 - 1918. They are located in Japan, and as some of you will know, not quite everything encountered over there is of Japanese manufacture.
I have managed to ID everything, except for four projectiles. This is one of them. It looks like nothing Japanese that I have documentation on, which would be the stuff used by Japan in (mainly) the later Showa era.
This particular projectile has commemorative markings of the Russo-Japanese war (1904-1905) and I believe it is likely to be a captured Russian projectile. The diameter seems to be around 85mm and the length of the shown part is around 250mm.
I know the Japanese used a 90mm calibre weapon that was apparently such short range that they referred to it as a 'mortar'; it was definitely breech-loaded though. The documentation I have on rounds for that 90mm calibre looks in no respects like this particular projectile. There is a 120mm Japanese shrapnel projectile that looks something like it, but no documented stuff in 85mm - 90mm calibre.
It seems there are no manufacturer markings on the projectile, and the missing driving band doesn't help either... The 'ring' at the mouth is odd too. No idea what purpose that serves; maybe this was added later by someone?!?
The questions:
1-Can anyone ID it for me?
2-Russian? Japanese? Something else???
3-Does anyone have any idea what the value of this might be? If I buy it, it will come with a pretty hefty price tag (item + shipping costs from Japan are expensive).
4-In case it is not Japanese (or Japanese used), is anyone particularly interested in it?
Thanks in advance and cheers,
Olafo
PS: The other shown projectiles (for comparison purposes) are Japanese HE and Shrapnel projectiles, all 75mm, several different types and lengths.