When I was in England in the 1980's, I knew a man who had a machine shop on a pig farm at Martlesham Heath in Suffolk County. He had an arrangement with the farm's owner that included driving wedding parties on weekends in an antique Rolls-Royce when needed. For years he had worked in the Tower of London restoring old weapons... and he was exceptionally good at it. Tiring of the daily commute from Ipswich to London, he set up his shop. I have a S&W 586 on which he modified the front sight by milling the ramp, slotting the base and making front sight blades to fit. Included was a duplicate of the original front sight with red insert. The work is absolutely brilliant.
What's this have to do with trunks? A friend of his once bid on two trunks at a Sotheby Auction in London that were catalogued incorrectly. They didn't contain what was advertised but when his friend found them filled with genuine Samurai swords, he kept them. Knowing that my friend often worked on edged weapons for the Tower, he gave him one of the blades that had some minor pitting and told him to practice his sharpening skills on it. My friend showed me the blade and explained the markings on the tang showing how many criminals had been beheaded with it to prove it's sharpness. As far as I know he never messed with the blade as it was unbelievably sharp as it was. Anyone who has never handled a true Samurai blade would likely be amazed at the construction. I know I was. They are in a class of their own among edged weapons.
That's my trunk story and even though it's second hand, I have absolutely no reason to doubt that it was true.
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