MJMartin

WW I Victory, Taisho 8, Awarded to a Corporal, Numbered 166,528

1914-1920 War (WWI), Taisho 9, Awarded to a Private 1st Class, Numbered 173,037

1914-1915 War (Early WWI), Taisho 4, Awarded to a Private Superior, Numbered 54,504

1904-1905 War (Russo-Jap War), Meiji 39, Awarded to a Private 1st Class, Numbered 1,141,618

1894-1895 War (Sino-Jap War), Meiji 28, Awarded to a Private Superior, Numbered 19,641

Sacred Treasure 5th Class, Meiji 36, Awarded to a Army Doctor, Numbered 91,027

Golden Kite 7th Class, Meiji 37, Awarded to a Private 1st Class, Numbered 9,504

Rising Sun 6th Class, Taisho 9, Numbered 872,754

Rising Sun 7th Class, Meiji 39, Numbered 698,529

Rising 8th Class, Showa 15, Awarded to a Private Superior, and theses Mini-Documents were not Numbered

I thought a good thread might be for people to show thier Japanese Award Documents they have in their collection. I will at least only show the ones I own for now, but I welcome anyone else to show off any odd or rare documents they have picutres have. Rising Sun 8th Class, Meiji 34, awarded to a Private Superior, numered 44,251

I thank you for the insight. I obviously have a lot to learn yet. I look forward to hearing more of what you have to say. I have to say that initially I am very pleased. It is nice to collect something like these documents that is so rich in history and detail, while not having to sweat its originality constantly. I used to collect mainly German militaria, but I got hooked on Japanese Documents in the Fall. They are usually affordably and considering the amount of information that you can get from each one (awardees name, rank, highest order received, date, document serial number, along with the information about directors, commandeers, and bureau chiefs on the left hand side, and sometimes much more) they are a collector?s bargain. It is very regarding. Thank you again for the insight and I look forward to learning more.

This is another example of an Award Document with an odd serial number. This Sacred Treasure 8th Class from Meiji 19 is numbered 169,587. This is number though is way, way too low and once again is missing the symbols for "tens". This document was sold on eBay at the same time as the other one. Once again, sorry for the small and fuzzy picture. I did not buy either one of these. I can not afford to buy every example while still in school. But, downloading their pictures is a start.

No problem, here it is outlined.

I most immediately apologize to Paul Murphy. I missed the fact that the award was for the Order of the Sacred Treasure 2nd Class, not the Order of the Golden Kite 2nd Class. I hope that he forgives this error. The serial number listed is accurate to the numbers I have. It is a great looking document. So, with all do respects to Mr. Murphy, I do still think there are erroneous documents around. To help illustrate this I have an example. Sacred Treasure 8th Class, Meiji 15 with a serial number of 552,642. According to the other documents that I have seen this number should be in the millions. The numbering is different has well because it is missing the symbols that represents the "tens". This document was sold on eBay. Sorry that the picture is so small.

Hello to all. I am new to this forum, but have been active on the MCF. My interest is Japanese Award Documents and I have been doing some research on this topic for the last few months. I have posted quite a few pictures and descriptions on the MCF forum. I will not repost them here because of the amount of time they require, but the link is here: http://www.militariacollecting.com/index.php?showtopic=49644. I invite people to look throw the linked thread. It covers a wide range of topics including Award Document types, description, and how to read them. But, I do have a question that I want to pose for this forum. The serial numbers (or entry rolls) of Japanese Award Documents most interest me. Please see either my linked thread or the thread by Paul L. Murphy titled "How to read Japanese Award Documents Master Classes" for details about these numbers. My largest question is 'Can we use the serial numbers of these documents and the documents award date to authenticate documents?' I have been keeping track of documents on eBay and other sources. I have cataloged their dates and serial numbers. There have been some problems with this method though. Mainly the pictures are not very good. I could only catalog about half of all documents that I seen because of the blurry kanji. Some the readings I do get are slightly incomplete. You will notice a "?" in some number spaces. But, I only recorded the documents that I could get a good read from. I have only cataloged the three different orders, but I do have pictures of many more documents, such has the army service documents. Well, enough talk, here is the facts. The follow lists represents the chronological serial numbering (from early to late) of the three orders. Order of the Golden Kite Meiji 15 (1882) 2,7?8 Meiji 37 (1904) 9,504 Meiji 39 (1906) 42,488 Meiji 39 (1906) 45,488 Meiji 39 (1906) 85,91? Showa 9 (1934) 127,90? Showa 12 (1937) 136,696 Showa 15 (1940) 506,202 Order of the Sacred Treasure Meiji 28 (1895) 46,469 Meiji 36 (1903) 91,027 Meiji 36 (1903) 94,302 Meiji 38 (1905) 103,494 Meiji 39 (1906) 126,816 Meiji 39 (1906) 166,6?6 Taisho 2 (1913) 413,067 Taisho 3 (1914) 422,398 Showa 7 (1932) 760,764 Showa 9 (1934) 847,704 Showa 9 (1934) 86?,?89 Showa 13 (1938) 1,704,08? Showa 15 (1940) 1,???,215 Showa 17 (1942) 1,456,4?? Showa 18 (1943) 2,016,880 Order of the Rising Sun Meiji 34 (1901) 44,251 Meiji 39 (1906) 269,410 Taisho 4 (1915) 81?,?81 Taisho 8 (1919) 837,496 Taisho 9 (1920) 872,754 Showa 14 (1939) ??8,980 Showa 15 (1940) 1,186,874 Showa 15 (1940) 1,379,870 Showa 15 (1940) 1,521,546 I have seen some documents that don't match this order. This even includes the example from Paul L. Murphy on the "How to read Japanese Award Documents Master Classes" thread. The Golden Kite 2nd Class Document posted is from Showa 9, or 1934, and is numbered 867,289. This number does not match the evidence I have seen or the record of Golden Kites awarded. According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Golden_Kite) the Order of the Golden Kite was given out no more than 204,600 by the end of the Manchurian Incident in 1934. I am not claiming that the document shown by Paul Murphy is a fake, but there may be some questions that need to be answered. I have seen numerous documents with these odd serial numbers on eBay. These are the types of questions that I want to get answered. I believe that there are fakes out there being sold to collectors. Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing anyone else's thoughts on the topic.