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Antiques! => Antique Questions Forum => Topic started by: KingKhaos1988 on June 29, 2012, 06:50:21 PM
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Hi i have a small white pouch of sorts with some sort of powder inside of it. It has japanese writing on it, as well as "9g" and 2 crossed cannons on it. i am not sure what it is and was wandering if anyone may know. i think it has something to do with the military because we found it with some other old military items at an estate sale. thank you for your help.
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I wonder if it's resin powder? You apply it to your hands to dry them. I'm just guessing. If you watch gymnasts they use little bags of powder. They could have use this for other purposes.
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I'm sure the crossed cannon is the symbol of artillery. I know there are some fragments of this type of bag in an old scrapbook my aunt kept during WW2 and I will excavate out this old scrapbook and try to scan the objects. I had always assumed that the bags contained gunpowder but that isn't verified. I know the U.S. Navy used bags of powder for their large naval guns on warships but thought the land based artillery used brass cases with the projectile enclosed. It may be that the bag contains propellant (gunpowder). If so its not especially dangerous. I'll try to get back with you on this today or tomorrow.
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Found this little bit regarding German ordnance, so assuming the Japanese stocked it as well.
http://www.greatwar.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=1846716
"They used original cloth bags and filled them with an inert material(simulating cordite sticks, gunpowder, etc. - all have a "U" stamp which indicates inert)."
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What does it smell like ??
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Wow ok thanks everyone for all the information so far I hope to learn a lot more about it. As for the smell it doesn't really smell like anything to me just cloth, but my wife says that she smells a hint of metal around where the powder type substance is.
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Here is the pic.
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Everyone has been so helpful with my question, so I was wondering if anyone might possibly know what these are, and what they say? Do you think they might possibly have anything to do with the powder bag? We found them together at the estate sale.
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I guess this pic was sent to her in July 1945 from Okinawa. I've found that the crossed cannon is the mark of the Okasa Arsenal in Tokyo. Under the photo is the notation, "fragment of powder bag found near a demolished 155mm Japanese cannon. That blows my theory that the bag you have could be the accelerant for a Japanese "knee mortar which I have read could also fire the standard Japanese hand grenade since the bore of the knee mortar was (is) 2". FWIW the length of the cannon in my pic is just under 1", maybe 7/8 inch.
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Wow that has a lot of similarities with my bag. Do you have any more info on what these were used for.
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Oh wow ok, I'm really excited to hear that this could have been used in a mortar or other things like that this is a better photo so that you are able to see the markings better
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King - Well, when I looked at your pic of the "bag" I knew that from the size of it it wouldn't be enough to fire an artillery piece, but I thought it may be enough for the mortar I mentioned. One mention in Google said that some owners of the Japanese knee mortars today fire them for sport using 12 gauge shell primers and black powder. They make dummy mortar shells of inert material. I wish I knew more about WW2 Japanese military arms than I do. There are a few gun forums which cover a lot of different military arms. One of these is "The Firing Line" and you may find out about it there. Google it and while you may have to join the forum, its free, and a lot of knowledgable members on it who know all about of different nation's military arms. My first thought when I saw your item was "big bucks" if you could pin down the genuine description of what it is.
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Couple of other possibilities,, wound powder, and talc bag for keeping your gun and ammo dry !! Especially in humid areas !! If you live where there is a japanese market,, someone there might be able to tell you what it says !!
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Ok I think I will check out a few other forums including the one you posted for me to try and find out exactly what it is lol. And thanks to all of you for your help with this i know way more than i did from just searching around the internet lol. I will keep this updated with information as i find out more so that we can spread the knowledge of what it is.
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Please do !! We are curious !! My hubby spent part of WWII in Japan and Korea !! I will ask him if he knows when he gets in !!
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I asked hubby but he was didn`t know !! His best guess was some kind of powder charge !! My question would be if its Japanese why the measure 9 grams is in english ??
And I take it that the white portion is open but the darker section is sewn shut? From the arrows showing the opening something was either poured or put into or out of that piece !! Could be for gunpowder and the dark part is a dessicant to keep the powder dry !!
Just thinking out loud !! If it were me I would have already opened it !!
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King - In further snooping round on this, I found a site which describes the propellant charge of those knee mortar grenades as being in a "doughnut shaped bag" in the bottom of the grenade. This would have to be no more than 2" in diameter to fit in there. Is there any way your bag could be described as "doughnut shaped" and is it 2" or under? Just kind of grasping at straws here.