Paul L Murphy

What am I doing wrong I had one listed on ebay for $35 and it failed to get a single bid even though it was in excellent condition.

It looks like a recent strike, the original strikes from the 1950s are a darker bronze. $50 would be top price for an original piece, it is too high for this.

The price was a little high, but only a little. The 6th class is actually harder to find than the 5th so any increase in demand for these in Japan will have a sudden impact on prices elsewhere. I struggle to find a cased 6th class in Japan at less than $600, which is why I seldom have them for sale (especially with the Yen so strong).

The 2nd Infantry Regiment came from Mito, their division was headquartered in Utsunomiya. It would be worthwhile trying to find city symbol for these two places to see if either match.

The cup is for returning in victory from Russia but I have no idea about the central motif. It could be the symbol of a town or city but I do not recall seeing it before.

I don't think they have any plans at the moment to release it. I might suggest it to the curator and see what he thinks. It is a great opportunity to enjoy some really good music in a military setting and support a worthy cause all at the same time (and all for the London price of a small drink and a sandwich).

This might be of interest to members who are in London.

We are here to help so don't be shy. :cheers:

Correct.

If it is a silver medal with no enamel then I would use soap and water and a soft brush. Just make sure you do not get the ribbon wet !

The gold effect may only be tarnish. If it is polished I suspect it will come up silver since it looks too weak to be a gilt finish on a real 7th class.

I lived in Fukushima for about seven months in 1990 as an exchange student. I was in Hobara-machi which is about 30 minutes by train from Fukushima-shi (at least that's how long it took then but things might have changed). It is a lovely part of the world. Unfortunately I do not know any dealers in that area. Now that I think about my time there I can feel a nostalga trip coming on ........ :love:

Is that Fukushima prefecture in Tohoku or the Fukushima district of Osaka ?

Who is the seller ? If he has been around that long I might know him, especially if he is in Tokyo or Kansai.

It is a collector's replica. If I were you I would bring it straight back and get a refund if you can.

This is a Showa era 6th class piece. If you count the number of holes in the sword belt it is the easiest way to tell the difference (see the pinned topic in this section of the forum).

If you can post photos of the reverse, including the ribbon broach, we will be able to advise if they are recent strikes or earlier examples.

What is very useful are the current regulations around precedence and manner in which they should be worn. I am not aware that these have been published before outside of Army A Regs so it is good to have them in the public domain.

Kev, Given the involvement of the army in producing the book it is even more of a pity that they did not include more information such as a list of recipients of the MMG and DSM, as well as detailed information on the 1916 and 1917-21 Service Medals regarding the numbers issued officialyy named etc. Like I said in my earlier post, they have included the basics but it cannot be consider a definitive work since it leaves out a lot of information that was contained in O'Toole's book, and still leaves the field open for someone to write a detailed book on Irish medals. :cheers:

There is a book that is out of print which was written by Eamonn O'Toole in 1990 and which covers a wider range of Irish medals than this latest publication. I disagree that it will be a definitive reference since they only cover the basics and have not dealt with Irish Police medals or Irish civilian medals. Even on the medals they have covered they do not discuss naming styles, numbers awarded etc. There is a huge amount of information they have not included, which is a pity.

Here is the Queen's Crown version of the badge. And the smaller badge worn on mess dress.

There is a huge variety of unofficial badges and medals like this in Japan, hence the book I wrote. I have not seen this one before and it is a nice one to get. In general items for the Great East Asian War are a lot scarcer than earlier conflicts up to and including the China Incident to 1940. The reason for this is that you did not have all the veterans coming back victorious from the war after 1940, so there was not the same level of self congratulation. Probably the most famous unofficial campaign medal from the Japanese in WWII is the Homma Medal for the invasion of the Phillipines. He was completely lambasted by the powers that be for creating it. :cheers:

I have three Rising Sun breast stars in my collection, 2 in 1st class sets and 1 in a 2nd class set. Two of the sets are Meiji era and one is from the 1970s. On all three of them the reverse is silver, not gold. I agree that the pins should be aligned properly but they could have been adjusted for comfort by the wearer.

It looks like an original post war 2nd class set to me.

I would have thought that $10-12k would have been the going rate for one of these at the moment. A few years ago they went for about $6k or so but prices have increased a lot in recent years due to increased interest from China. However they have not increased to $25k ! If I am wrong and they have jumped that far then I will be selling the one from my own collection !