Cool piece,Barry! Thanks for posting it and thanks,Berkley for attaching the earlier link. I must have missed the original thread. These types of "trick" weapons are fascinating. Following the original thread, Katana mentions the fake-factor in tricking the enemy from a distance. This was also a common practice at sea (I hear groans that I'm bringing up maritime and pirates again!
) with many smaller schooners having fake cannon made out of cut logs and primed black. When you didn't have the fire power, it couldn't hurt to fake it! Particularly of interest are some of the fake weapons that aren't weapons at all! I've seen Japanese katana that were really just carrying cases for pharmaceuticals and a tanto that was really just a hand fan. Cool item!