Paul L Murphy

Last one for today, the Order of the Pillars of State 2nd class from Manchuria. This was only awarded 97 times.

A slight change of tack, this is the 6th class of the Order of United Glory which was awarded by the puppet government in China under Japanese occupation. Very rare in any class since it effectively carried a death sentence if you were caught with one after 1945.

This is an Order of the Sacred Crown 7th Class, surprisingly difficult to find.

Next we have an Order of the Sacred Crown 4th class. This is a post war version and very rare.

Finally his Golden Kite 5th class which he won for bravery as a Lieutenant. This is hand signed by the Meiji Emperor. Unfortunately the three certificates that we signed by the emperor were kept apart from his other awards so I do not have the rest of his paperwork.

Next up his Sacred Treasure 2nd Class, also hand signed by Hirohito.

Hi Chris (et al), Yes, I moved to Moscow from Saudi last year. It will come as no surprise that I prefer Moscow ! Here are a few more items. First up three certificate to a Major General. To start with we have the Golden Kite 3rd Class hand signed by Hirohito and awarded to him in 1934 after the Manchurian Incident.

Gentlemen, Is there any reference source (in English or Russian) which allows you to identify what unit was behind the five digit unit number ? I have a number of military gramata sets from the 1960s and 70s and would love to find out in which units the recipients served but this is only identified by number. Regards, Paul

.... and the Manchurian Enthronement Commemorative Medal

Moving across to Manchuria, we have the Manchurian Census Commemorative Medal

However, even rarer than that is the Marshal's Badge. This one belonged to Marshal Terauchi the Younger.

...... closely followed by the Breast Star

And now the big daddy of them all, the Golden Kite 1st Class. First the Sash Badge........

Next up is an example of the 5th Class of the Order of the Sacred Crown. A scarce and truely beautiful award. This piece is a post war example.

Next up is the Meiji 25th Wedding Anniversary Commemorative Medal

One of my key areas of interest is Imperial Japan so here are a few of the Japanese related items that are in my collection. Starting with some of the earlier and more expensive medals , here is the Imperial Constitution Promulgation Medal.

The second badge is from WWII, sorry I did not specify the time period in my earlier post. Regards, Paul

David, The army version of the MSM was instituted in 1845 for award to long service senior NCOs for meritorious service. The RAF version was introduced in 1918, after the foundation of the RAF, for essentially the same purpose. Recipients were typically sergeants or above who had served with excellent conduct for 25 + years. It was a highly regarded award and marked out the recipient as being a highly regarded long service veteran. Regards, Paul

The first is a WWI period other ranks cap badge of the Army Cyclist Corps, a reasonably scarce badge. I believe the second is an other ranks cap badge of the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. Not particularly scarce but a nice badge nonetheless.

I would say GBP3,000 would be a good rough value for insurance purposes. Regards, Paul

A lot of the value will depend on the regiment in which he served and the citation for the MC. Even if he served in the RA or RE and got a very normal citation the group is worth in excess of GBP2,000. If he served in a popular infantry regiment and was awarded the MC for a famous battle then you could almost double that.

Ceallach, What year is the hallmark of your DSM 1st Class ? I have a privately named DSM 3rd class for Congo in the 1960's in my collection as well as unnamed 1st and 2nd Class medals. I have also seen a 3rd Class awarded to a sailor on the LE Ashling for taking bodies out of the Atlantic from a Canadian (I think) jet that crashed. He was one of a few crewmembers who went out in a gemini craft to pull bodies out of the water and said that they literally had to kick the sharks away since they were in a feeding frenzy due to all the blood. His medal was unnamed but he was thinking about getting it privately named. I suspect that the named one you saw was done privately or at the initiative of an individual officer in the department since it was to be used at a presentation. What I have seen so far supports O'Toole, ie. they are issued unnamed which is a great pity. Regards, Paul

Here is a badge that is "sort of" theatre related, it is a graduate badge for the Higher Academy of Arts. This is my favourite of the basic academy badges, I love the colour and quality of manufacture. This piece is from the 1960's.

Ceallach, One estimate that I heard, which may make sense, was about 20 awards. This was based on the fact that there were four commands and army HQ, each of which had 4 chaplains. Assuming a low turnover of personnel, probably a fair assumption, then you have a very small pool of potential recipients. I have not been able to confirm the number of 4 chaplains per command however. I have only ever once handled one and since it was in Military Archives in Cathal Brugha there was no way it was finding its way into my collection ! Best regards, Paul

Chuck, The 175th Badge you illustrated is the one I am searching for. Wish me luck ! I have also seen a so called 225 anniversary badge for sale at Ismailovski on one occasion but I am very suspicious of it. The design was the same but the quality was far inferior to the others and, more importantly, I have never seen it worn by staff in the Bolshoi. Since the 225th anniversary was only 5 years ago one would think that there would be plenty of people wearing it (given the average age of their employees !). I find these items more peaceable than the stuff I usually collect. Regards, Paul