Description:

A fine collection of relics with an extremely interesting backstory and association, with the centerpiece being a machete-style sword, approx. 19.5 in blade, 29 in. overall, a "dao" crafted by the Kachin tribe of Burma (modern Myanmar). The sword features a squared blade allowing it to be used for digging as well as combat, with a wood handle wrapped in rattan lashing. This sword in mounted in a 35 x 10.25 in. display case along with two smaller utility knives, a wood scabbard for the smaller knife, an opium pipe with a wood stem and a glazed clay bowl, and a 10.5 in. wood dart intended to be dipped in poison and fired from a blowgun. This impressive display was assembled by U.S. Army Air Corps technical sergeant Jasper N. Bailey, who flew 25 bombing missions over Europe as a radio operator in a B-17, before volunteering for an additional tour of duty aboard cargo aircraft flying over "the Hump" in the China-Burma-India Theater. On June 6, 1945, he and three other airmen went down while flying the route in a modified B-24. With one other survivor, Bailey was rescued and protected from the Japanese by the Kachin, a tribe who had gained a reputation as "headhunters", at their village at Htwagaw. They befriended to local headman, Jang Bhir Rai, who presented the items described above to Bailey, and with whom Bailey maintained communications until his death. The artifacts are accompanied by a framed period photo of Bailey, two vintage photos of members of the Kachin tribe, Bailey's Army and Navy "Song and Service Book for Ship and Field", and a souvenir book compiling reports of Bailey's wartime activities and those of his various squadron mates, including a September 2006 newspaper story relating Bailey's account of his crash and rescue by the Kachin tribe, and his receipt of these relics.

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April 1, 2020 10:00 AM EDT
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $499 $20
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 + $10,000