 Examining oldest sword in his collection -- a blade made about 1065 A.D. - is Col. Dean Hartley Jr. of Quantico. On the scabbard, Japanese ideograms written by Dr. Junji Homma, an expert of Samurai swords, authenticate sword's age and quality. |
Col. Dean S. Hartley Jr. of Quantico is a collector of swords and
considered to be an expert. He now has a collection of 65. He
aquired his first swords on Guadalcanal during World War II. Since
then he's gotten others from Japan and pawn shops in Washington,
D.C. Hartley got so wrapped up in swords that he enrolled as a student in Iwakuni, Japan, to learn how they're made. Of his collection, Hartley found 11 swords in pawn shops, one of which carried the name of Japanese Lt. Gen. Hiroshi Nemoto, who commanded garrison forces in Outer Mongolia during World War II. The sword was made in the 13th century. |
