Japanese knee mortar question

[timmymac]

Recently added this Japanese piece. Very nice condition. Marking on bottom portion is a mystery. "4705" stamped on copper band. Don't know why this would be there or why it would be in English numerals.
Y'all know what this might be?

 

[xPANZERx]

My knee mortar also has some English numerals, but the are on the base and are 29 / 90? the 2 may just be a squiggle.

 

[Fragman]

Hi. The same identification number should be on each component, Cheers

 

[timmymac]

If done @ plant (I assume) Why would they be in English numerals. I can find other markings .& they're in native writing. Although other markings don't "appear" to be numbers. I thought perhaps it was something done @ time of export/import?
Tim

 

[EOD]

These are the matching numbers like on weapons where parts are made and tuned to fit to each other as they are not interchangeable.

 

[Tmine35]

I really know nothing about these, but recently saw this knee mortar grenade ( totally inert and all parts screw off ). It has plenty of Japanese characters stamped on but no serial numbers on parts as mentioned here. Also the painting is different what I have seen here. I have seen here only with yellow and white straps, not red. Both black and red paint look very old and original to me.
Can someone tell me what this is.

 

[BOUGAINVILLE]

Firstly this Type 89 50 mm mortar was manufactured at Hoten (Mukden) Army Arsenal in August 1939.

Looking at the photo here are my first impressions;

• The red is of the wrong shade. Looks to be cherry red instead of being more akin to post box red.
• In large artillery rounds sporting the new colour scheme (1942/3 - 45) a red band in the middle designated a shrapnel or canister shell. There were no such 50mm shrapnel mortars.
• It was made in 1939 and therefore should be showing the old colour scheme which for a starter has a white metal identification band just above the copper drive band and the designating colour band just below the bourrelet.
• Absence of a red filling band just below the fuze and lack of filling data etc.
• If it hasn't been filled why is it fuzed and not sporting a transit plug. All 50 mm mortars had transit plugs. They were only fuzed just before use.
• If it hasn't been filled why would it be fuzed.

My conclusion is;

• That even though the paintwork looks aged and worn that it is a fictitious paint job and not original.
• The mortar and fuze are original.

In case you are wondering where Hoten is. Hoten is the Japanese name for Mukden which was in Japanese occupied Manchuria.
Yes it comes from CHINA:laugh:


Cheers,
Robert

I really know nothing about these, but recently saw this knee mortar grenade ( totally inert and all parts screw off ). It has plenty of Japanese characters stamped on but no serial numbers on parts as mentioned here. Also the painting is different what I have seen here. I have seen here only with yellow and white straps, not red. Both black and red paint look very old and original to me.
Can someone tell me what this is.

 

[BOUGAINVILLE]

You are spot on.

These are the matching numbers like on weapons where parts are made and tuned to fit to each other as they are not interchangeable.

 

[BOUGAINVILLE]

Firstly wouldn't call them English numerals, just as much French or German etc :laugh:. The English have no sole ownership of them. It was common practice for the Japanese to use both Western and Japanese numerals as suited. In some cases it was very practical as in dates. The year of manufacture of ordnance would be stamped in Kanji characters and the month in Western numerals. In fact Western numerals cross all language barriers and even though we might say it differently, the numeral character stays the same, no different from Kanji.

Don't know why this would be there or why it would be in English numerals.

 

[Tmine35]

Still about knee mortar in my post. I have an inert Japanese 20 mm AA-round. It has red, yellow and green stripes around shell. When looking in good daylight the red shade in both items is exactly the same, as well as surface of the paint.
If someone has painted the mortar later on he has done a good work, but why it's not painted as it should be?