Paul L Murphy

This badge comes in a number of different metals, blackened bronze, dark bronze, white metal. It was given out in the later Meiji period (very early 20th century) for contributions made to the Japanese navy and naval shipbuilding fundraising.

Cheers,

Paul

Unless the photographer massively retouched the face, I'd say the first one is a teenaged student-- with a LIFE MEMBER Red Cross medal?

He certainly looks young. I would say he is in his late 20's. The Life Member rosette was at one time used to designate Special Member's as well so it may fall within that period. I am not sure on the exact dates when the Life rosette was used like this. No matter which, you would have thought that he could get the bloody thing sewn on properly for the photo !

Jerome,

Excellent photo. The Golden Kite is a 5th Class since there is no rosette on the ribbon. His uniform is the service dress uniform for an officer in a mounted service, most likely cavalry.

Cheers,

Paul

Gentlemen, does anyone have any thoughts of the officially named and number 1916 medal for sale at the moment and the posthumous numbering system.

It is to William Partridge and is numbered 67. Paul Murphy's excellent research for the medal society of Ireland made the very accurate conclusion on the similarity of the killed in action of Easter week to the medals number 1 to 84 when listed alphabetically.

However William died in 1917.

Could it be possible that the numbers are related to a list of people on a pension recipient basis?

Notes from the archives

Letter to President Cosgrave from Mrs Partridge, 22 January 1925. `As you may know I made application for pension but owing to my Husband William not dying of gun shot wounds I did not come under the Act. All my widowed friends of 1916 are getting pensions and I would like to be the same'

Minute to R O hEigheartaigh from Horgan, Army Pensions Department, 8 December 1924, stating that Mr William Partridge's death `is attributable to prison treatment, and in these circumstances his widow's claim will be eligible for consideration if and when the Amending Pensions Bill becomes law'.

Very interesting but I do not think that it went on pension claims. I have the medal to Frank Sheridan in my collection and he die in November 1916 from wounds received during the Rising. His medal is numbered 256. Perhaps Partridge ended up on a list of KIAs acording to the Department of Defense due to his widows intervention ? Sheridan obviously did not.

Thanks for the comments on my earlier research by the way,

Paul

The medal in question is a late issue piece and the ribbon is a replacement. There was replacement ribbon made in the late 80's and I suspect that is what it is. The Australian fakes do not have the correct level of detail on the reverse, especially around the letters, since they were originally made not to deceive collectors but to be hung in a frame as a replica display.

I agree that by trying to make the group sound better than it is the seller is actualyl shooting himself on the foot somewhat.

Hi Stu,

It has been repaired (and rather crudely at that). I would hold out for a better example unless you are getting a considerable discount on the normal price.

Regards,

Paul

Looks like a replacement ribbon to me. It seems to have a larger weave than the original ribbon, also the level of wear (or lack thereof) is different from the two accompanying medals.

Paul:

Quit your day job.

Write your book.

Please . . . .

Ed

I am drawing up a list of the items I need to make the book puurrfect in every way.

As you know yourself, these little projects take longer than we first estimate. However it will happen, and it will be worht the wait

Nothing scarce here, and I am not even a collector of Dutch items, but the magpie instinct hit and I did not want to leave Amsterdam empty handed after a recent business trip.

First up the beret badge and collar badges of the Mechanical Engineers.

Next up the beret badge and collar badges of the Infantry corps.

Next we have the Signals Corps

And finally the Supply Corps

Like I said, nothing rare but they are well made and colourful. I will probably try to add a few more different sets and frame them at some point in time.

Paul

Hi Lilo,

I will, once I get them out of the bank vault when I am next there.

I am in the process of gathering together the final pieces I need to start writing a book on Japanese awards which will be far more detailed than Peterson, however do not hold your breath since it will take a while to complete given how busy I am with my day job !

Cheers,

Paul

Larry's document is to a Senior Private, not a PFC. Nick Komiya's translation is correct (Nick's Japanese is a lot better than mine, his surname shoulg suggest he has a certain advantage).

FJCP's small document is to a Leading Seaman for sickness is Southern China. The lage document to Murakami does not say anything about where he fell ill, it gives the sections of the legal code under which the badge was awarded. It is a standard document, akin to a medal certificate, where the name details and the dates were all that was changed.

The small document was carried around and they tend to turn up seldom, and are normally worn. The large document was the award certificate for the badge. Hence, each recipient would end up with both documents and the badge. I have never been able to get the two documents to the same recipient, maybe one of these days.

Paul

My latest purchases. They came with a copy diploma to a Legion officer called Guy Halftermeyer. He was a 2nd Lt in 1946 but obviously progressed after that to at least Commandant. The family still have his medals and certificates.

Do any of our French members know anything about him since it is an unusual name and he may be traceable ? Given that he was wounded three times, has six citations for bravery and a Legion of Honour he must have a great story to tell. The sholderboards are from the Spencer jacket of the gala uniform.

No idea about the badge but the character on it is pronounced "Gu" and means tool, vessel, ingredients, or is the counter ordinal for armour, suits and sets of furniture. It can be used in certain compound words associated with armorers so I suspect it is used in that context here.

Regards,

Paul

I think this is a unit level award for the UDR or the RIR. I remember seeing it somewhere before but I cannot recall where. Is there anything on the reverse ?

Paul

The sentence says "2,600th Anniversary of Imperial Rule Commemorative". It is the name of the medal in the top left.

Did you get details of the name and number ?

The normal reading of these two characters together would be Ei (as two syllables). Not sure if there is a different reading when they are combined as a name.

Regards,

Paul

Regret to advise that the scattering of the Tynan medal group has begun - the 1966 commerative has been disposed of privately !!!

An Ceallach

Very sad.

The second button is a GS button worn by all enlisted soldiers starting from 1854. The Staff button had a raised border.

I read elsewhere that it could be a 1902 pattern officer's button. Do you know waht are the differences between them and the 1854 GS button ?

Paul

In reply to Irish1916, yes it does beg the question - is the Irish medal market well over inflated?

If the 3 or 4 major collectors (ALL decent, honest and honourable people i might add) didn't compete against each other perhaps the medals worth not be worth the prices they are now achieving? In the longer term those medals that cost so much at auction still be worth it? they could only be sold to a very small handful of people able to afford it.

We might well be dedicated collectors with the right intentions of keeping the medals, but what about the following generation? will our kids really appreciate them or try to sell them when we are all gone? If someone today does pay ?10,000 for a 1916 medal, in years to come who can they sell it onto? who can their kids sell it onto if they don't want to keep our collections? not many as again no-one could afford it.

I think if a 1916 medal came onto the marketplace and the 3 or 4 major collectors didn't bid we would see the real value of such medals...would be interesting!

Have any of the newspapers picked up on the ebay seller yet???

Within this post there are a number of serious collectors of Irish medals, myself included. The group is well worth the price it fetched at Whyte's auction and I had considered bidding on it. However I already have a number of other comparable groups in my collection and have just purchased a house and new car this year so I could not justify the extravagance to myself (ok, to my wife!). I personally know more than four serius collectors of 1916 medals who would have been interested in this group so I beleive the collecting market out there is much bigger. What you must recall is that ebay has a poor reputation for fakes and cobbled together items so some avoid it altogether for good stuff and the Whyte's auction was an auction of Irish art with a few medal lots stuck in the middle of it. Hence, I suspect a lot of collectors missed it.

Paul

Hello Lach470

Are you certain the signature is Hirotada saku?

Perhaps it is the scan but I read it as Tanaka Kanetada saku.

I have no information to back this up and may indeed be completely wrong, especially since each kanji can be read multipe ways.

Regards...Henry

The smith's name is definitely Tanaka and those two characters together are not read any other way. Kanetada can be read a couple of different ways but none of them are Hirotada so I suspect one of the earlier owners of the sword got their collecting notes mixed up somewhere along the way.

Beautiful sword bye the way.

Paul

Hope you like them

Next we have a Diplomat. He is wearing a 6th Class Rising Sun (maybe 5th, impossible to tell the difference in a B&W photo), the 1894-95 Sino Japanese War Medal and the Red Cross Life Member Medal. His uniform suggests he is about First Secretary level since it lacks the massive amount of bullion you get on the higher ranked pieces.

Next we drop down the ranks and back in time to a 1st Class Private in the 53rd Infantry Regiment wearing the Sacred Treasure 8th Class and the Russo Japanese War Medal.

Next up, the same guy 14 years later. He is still a captian but now boasts a Rising Sun 4th Class, Sacred Treasure 4th Class, Taisho Enthronement Medal, 1914-15/19? Medal, Showa Enthronement Medal, Manchurian Incident War Medal, Manchurian National Foundation Merit Medal and Red Cross Life Member Medal. The photo is dated 1936 and says that it was taken upon his return from Shanghai. He was obviously a busy little boy way out west to have ended up with a 4th class Rising Sun as a captain rated administrative official !