mickey

thanks for your help it was labelled a badge from the japanese relief society small item but nice workmanship on the metal part of the badge

great many thanks for the reply

hi all i have seen this badge under a few different names but have used richard catalanos site to identify it as a reservist badge quite common i think but nice with an inscription on the base of the box just wondered if any members can see a date in the inscription or have any idea as to the date these badges began to appear

thanks for reply mike will post photo when it arrives

hi all i have recently purchased a ksa medal with its 2 bars and named to sgt major ha walker rwk scouts i think this is the royal west kent regiment i cannot find any reference to "'scouts"' re this unit i have been trying to find his name on the rolls for that period but had no sucess any info would be appreciated

hi dieter our local auction site is trade me nz (trademe.co.nz) we do get some strange looking medals and badges being sold as japanese they usally come in bursts then disapear for a few months these were the first i have seen with copies of actual japanese medals on the obverse i missed most of the auctions for these medals due to work and did not think of taking a photo at the time but will post photos if i see more

hi dieter our local auction site is trade me nz (trademe.co.nz) we do get some strange looking medals and badges being sold as japanese they usally come in bursts then disapear for a few months these were the first i have seen with copies of actual japanese medals on the obverse i missed most of the auctions for these medals due to work and did not think of taking a photo at the time but will post photos if i see more

hi nick just want to add recently 4 faked (copied?) 2600 anniversary medals appeared on our local auction site passable obverse from a distance plain reverse totally incorrect ribbon (same shape but wrong colours) as well as 2 capital rehabilitation medals as per the anniversary medals,both medals had ring suspension devices rather than the usual square devices both from the same seller who said that they were bought from a antiques market in china sold onsite as japanese medals with no other details i think this is quite clever as new collectors see japanese medals and buy on impulse without checking i note that 2 of the anniversary medals sold for $100 nz around $85 us each !!! i missed what happened to the remainder hopefully i can get photos to post if more appear

Gday mate genuine item awarded in big numbers and easily found probably not worth faking

very interesting research ,the drop off of kites in 1942 may also be due to the fact that this was the height of japanese military sucess in many theatres almost advances everywhere with not much opposition,then from the end of 1942 it was desperate defence till the end of the war which may explain the increase again.

thanks for your help paul

hi all just a quick question re 2nd class naval proficiency badges i recently picked up a 2nd class badge for carpentry with the bottom part of the case i have not seen many of these badges for sale from a collecting point of veiw are they considered fairly rare

hi all i agree with paul murphy best place to start would be mint records or die manufacture records these may have been outsourced to different die companys.the mint may have upgraded their machinery giving slightly different results to their pressings over a long period of medal production,also just because the machines are the same it does not mean the the finished result is the same, this may be true of dies too .i work in the high quality print trade and have seen 6 printing machines of the same manufacture give 6 different print results this was very noticable in the old letterpress days which worked very much like die presses eg pressure and lead type much like a die.As for rivets etc this may still be a fairly reliable way of dating medals it seems to be a natural industrial progression start with rivets progress to screws then do away with the lot,its all a question of cheaper production and lower cost.phew, good luck richard