Just bought this off eBay. Being a retired US Navy boatswain mate I started collecting vintage boatswain pipes from any navy. Don't see these often so had to have it. Not the best condition but cheaper than one I saw for sale in a search about these. Guess they were made of brass and plated to look silver.

Very cool, never seen one before.

Received it today. better photos. I cleaned it a little so you can see the Navy issue mark.

Very impressive. Not a navy collector, but enjoyed seeing this unusual item. Thanks for posting. Dave

These are very hard to find in this condition!

I have about eight boatswain pipes in my collection. One is one I used in the US navy it got a little out of hand lately added three the last few months that were not cheap like this one an early Russian one and one I might have overpaid for an early dragon boatswain pipe made of silver sold to US sailors in China that's as rare as this Japanese boatswain pipe. I put them in a shadow box for the wall so they can be seen.

Would like to see a picture of the collection. Can you post one? Dave

Here is the collection got one other pipe in my Navy retirement shadow box. I could show each pipe and country, but some are vintage US Navy, you can see those in the US Military forum in the Navy section.

Very nice. Impressive.  Is the one in the right lower corner the one from China? It looks really nice and ornate. Dave

The one on the right your right. Here is a photo of that one. It was made in China and sold to sailors of the US Navy Asiatic Fleet maybe to gun boat sailors like that movie the sand pebbles with Steve McQueen if you never seen that movie it's worth a watch. This pipe I paid a lot for but there one on Ebay that the guy wants double so I think I did OK this one has a makers mark still trying to find more info on it.

Beautiful piece.  Very fortunate you have it in your collection.