Be Prepared For Research To Lead To More Questions Than Answers
When the Allies occupied Japan after WWII there was a great horde of treasure in the vaults of the Bank of Japan in Tokyo. I collected some information about this horde while researching a book of the period.
Some idea of the size of the horde can gained from the First Cavalry Division History of WWII in the Pacific. It's reported that by the end of 1947, more than 76,000,000 grams of gold, a billion grams of silver, 7,000,000 grams of platinum and a large quantity of diamonds had been confiscated by the Division and impounded in the Bank of Japan.
In the April 16th 1947 edition of the Stars and Stripes there is a report of the on-going court martial of Col. Edward Murray who had been arrested as he arrived in San Francisco that year with two Thermos bottles of diamonds. The article says an admission was made by Capt. Woodrow T. Wilson of the Inspector General's Office in testimony which revealed that prior to June 1946, the priceless collection of approximately 250,000 karats of precious gems in the Bank of Japan vaults was in a 'confused condition' with diamonds mixed indiscriminately with 'worthless debris.'
Some more information revealed in the same April 16th 1947 edition of the Stars and Stripes was equally intriguing, stating that diamonds in the vast cache ranged in size from 'dust' to a 52.75 karat gem valued at $31,650. That figure in 1947 dollars could easily be multiplied by 10 to be $316,500 in 21st century dollars. And that was just one of thousands of such gems.
The researcher who helped me locate information at the National Archives turned up a number of auditor's reports of the inventory process conducted by the Army. The reports themselves refer to typewritten lists of the items in the vaults, but the researcher was unable to get his hands on the lists, frustrating, because I knew from other sources they were in fact being created. The audit reports also referred items identified that had escaped inventory such as a gold casting weighing 36,660 grams. This was yet another clue that the value of the entire horde was immense.
An audit report of May 14, 1947 alluded to the fact that one of the largest coin collections in the world was in the vaults. The report complains that the records only indicate the number of pieces and the weight of the metal of this collection. There is no indication in that report as to the value of the collection, but it must have been great.
The same audit report of May 14, 1947 lists some of the other items in the vaults: cameras, pearls, personal jewelry, watches, coins of intrinsic value, laboratory equipment, diamond tools, gold articles in sealed containers, fabricated items, and precious stones other than diamonds. No value is assigned to this material.
I wrote to the Bank of Japan in 1948 asking what happened to the valuables in the vaults. In the Bank's reply was the following statement: "...the valuables were either returned to their legitimate owners or vested in the Japanese national treasury."
Given the size and value of the horde, it is surprising that not much seems to have been written about it. If my calculations are correct just the 76,000,000 ounces of gold in 1947 would be worth $2,280,000,000 in 21st century dollars and the seven million ounces of platinum would be worth $287,000,000. That gold casting that had been missed in the inventory and mentioned above at 36,660 grams would be worth $1,099,800 at $30 per gram in 2011. Quite a horde. I am able to make statements on its projects size and value; but as you can see there were few definitive answers uncovered. It just goes to show that when writing, the research process can often lead to more questions than answers.
Some idea of the size of the horde can gained from the First Cavalry Division History of WWII in the Pacific. It's reported that by the end of 1947, more than 76,000,000 grams of gold, a billion grams of silver, 7,000,000 grams of platinum and a large quantity of diamonds had been confiscated by the Division and impounded in the Bank of Japan.
In the April 16th 1947 edition of the Stars and Stripes there is a report of the on-going court martial of Col. Edward Murray who had been arrested as he arrived in San Francisco that year with two Thermos bottles of diamonds. The article says an admission was made by Capt. Woodrow T. Wilson of the Inspector General's Office in testimony which revealed that prior to June 1946, the priceless collection of approximately 250,000 karats of precious gems in the Bank of Japan vaults was in a 'confused condition' with diamonds mixed indiscriminately with 'worthless debris.'
Some more information revealed in the same April 16th 1947 edition of the Stars and Stripes was equally intriguing, stating that diamonds in the vast cache ranged in size from 'dust' to a 52.75 karat gem valued at $31,650. That figure in 1947 dollars could easily be multiplied by 10 to be $316,500 in 21st century dollars. And that was just one of thousands of such gems.
The researcher who helped me locate information at the National Archives turned up a number of auditor's reports of the inventory process conducted by the Army. The reports themselves refer to typewritten lists of the items in the vaults, but the researcher was unable to get his hands on the lists, frustrating, because I knew from other sources they were in fact being created. The audit reports also referred items identified that had escaped inventory such as a gold casting weighing 36,660 grams. This was yet another clue that the value of the entire horde was immense.
An audit report of May 14, 1947 alluded to the fact that one of the largest coin collections in the world was in the vaults. The report complains that the records only indicate the number of pieces and the weight of the metal of this collection. There is no indication in that report as to the value of the collection, but it must have been great.
The same audit report of May 14, 1947 lists some of the other items in the vaults: cameras, pearls, personal jewelry, watches, coins of intrinsic value, laboratory equipment, diamond tools, gold articles in sealed containers, fabricated items, and precious stones other than diamonds. No value is assigned to this material.
I wrote to the Bank of Japan in 1948 asking what happened to the valuables in the vaults. In the Bank's reply was the following statement: "...the valuables were either returned to their legitimate owners or vested in the Japanese national treasury."
Given the size and value of the horde, it is surprising that not much seems to have been written about it. If my calculations are correct just the 76,000,000 ounces of gold in 1947 would be worth $2,280,000,000 in 21st century dollars and the seven million ounces of platinum would be worth $287,000,000. That gold casting that had been missed in the inventory and mentioned above at 36,660 grams would be worth $1,099,800 at $30 per gram in 2011. Quite a horde. I am able to make statements on its projects size and value; but as you can see there were few definitive answers uncovered. It just goes to show that when writing, the research process can often lead to more questions than answers.
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