No Jap ordnance is easy to find. The common items are 20mm rounds, 25mm rounds, Knee mortar projectiles and 70mm cases. Anything larger than 75mm is fairly rare.
Made by Osaka arsenal (cross cannons)
The date could be "Showa 6", (1931) but the kanji for "6" doesn't quite look correct - could be "9" (1934?).
The "10" would indicated the month of October.
Cheers
Drew
I'm thinking Ogreve might be very interested in it.
Part of the problem with jap ordnance was their picnic acid explosives which make dangerous salts in combination with metal, and the high humidity in the Pacific Theatre.
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It is a very clear 10 over a 6 which is read as 16. It is dated Showa 16 10th month which is October 1941.
Showa Year is written as 昭和 but this is usually abbreviated as 昭 on Imperial Japanese Army artillery head stamps.
The number 10 is 十 and the number 6 is 六. This is read as 16 and can be written as either 六十 or as a fraction with the ten over the 6 as the case is with the head stamp on this 105mm case. Of course as Drew mentions the crossed cannons belong to Osaka Army Arsenal.
I'm also curious where exactly is the "10 over a 6" stamped? I have re-examined all the photos and can only find "10 六 昭", (which is horizontal, not vertical) and does not resemble: "10/六"
The point being made by Bougainville is surely that the Kanji for 16 is written here vertically as 十 above 六, Showa 16, the two symbols effectively joined. Ignore the month, October.
Tom.
Thanks Tom. That is precisely what I was saying. The 十 is written vertically above the 六 and are effectively joined. It isn't unusual to find the Showa year date written like this on IJA head stamps. It can be written either vertically, in which case the two characters are effectively joined one above the other, or horizontally. The month is always depicted using western numerals. The IJA headstamps are read from right to left.
Cheers,
Robert
Perhaps I should find some more updated references on IJA cases and get a better pair of glasses...........:nerd:
Cheers
Drew
Have you tried using my article on Japanese headstamps in the last issue of the ACCA magazine? It should prove to be a good basic reference.
Robert
Yes I have read your excellent article as it clearly show a definite space between the kanji example - as shown the combined "height" of the 2 characters far exceed a single character height - perhaps you should update your article with this case where the overstamp has been performed in such a way that it resembles a single character height.
Cheers
Drew