TracA

Fascinating medal. I wish that the Wiki page had an explanation of the obverse design, especially the meaning of the fist. Tracy

Hello No One, Beautiful wear on the wings. Yes, definitely a Showa Kite. Besides the Kite shape, the number of apertures and the distance of the fourth (from below) aperture of the harness to the first tipping over of a harness are the tell tale clues. JapanX did a wonderful job explaining and showing this is his thread here: https://gmic.co.uk/topic/51228-classification-of-golden-kites-in-6th-and-7th-class/. All the best, Tracy

No One, Nice Kite and rosette. In the photo it appears as if the gilding on the Kite's wings has worn off, which to me gives it a nice appearance. All the best, Tracy

…and my second post for the day in this thread. This one is an Order of the Sacred Treasure 8th Class with the M mint mark of the Japan Mint. The button rosette also has a mark on its underside: ス (su). The case lid has gold kanji and the “Meiji/Taisho” stylization of 勣 (kun). That’s all for today. Tracy Obverse: Reverse, with the M visible: M close-up. Note that it appears to be not quite a full strike, although pretty darn close: Case lid:

I have finally obtained a Golden Kite with a mint mark. Below is a Golden Kite 7th Class with a “Showa bird” and the M mint mark on the reverse at 6h. The button rosette also has a mark on its underside: ス (su). I note that the lacquered case is of the six kanji variety instead of the seven kanji variety, so it is an “earlier” case. The medal is in great condition with a beautiful patina around the edges. Of course my somewhat crappy cell phone pictures won’t do it true justice. Enjoy. Tracy Obverse: Reverse, with the M mint mark visible at the 6h: Case lid:

No One, Thank you for the important and useful information. Too bad that the seller was so snotty. Tracy

No One, Since the original posts were from 11 years ago I checked JapanX's Medals of Asia website at https://gmic.co.uk/topic/57578-manchuran-incident-medal-wrapper/#comment-730981 to see if he had any updates on these types of wrappers. Alas, he does not. All the best, Tracy

No One, I hadn't noticed that about the parentheses. Excellent point, and it adds to the mystery. If I recall Peterson and Catalano, the 'National Border Incident War Medal' for Nomenhan is technically a Manchukou commemorative medal, but because the quality is so high and the design so similar, it is believed that they were made in Japan. Perhaps that's why the "made by the mint" on your wrapper is surrounded by parentheses and the wrapper for Dieter3's is not. Perhaps the parentheses were used to signify that although the award was made by the Japan mint, it was done so for a "foreign" country, so-to-speak. All the best, Tracy

No One, Interesting. The only ones that I've seen and have are also medal specific, instead of a generic "military service medal", or something like that. Tracy

No One, A very nice collection of ribbons. Tracy

No One, Thank you for the compliment on my collection. To me it often looks haphazard, and quite frankly more and more I get the feeling that it’s growing quite out of control. 😁 Those are two wonderful Orders of the Sacred Treasure with the ナ na hallmark. Are there any marks on the underside of the button rosettes? All the best, Tracy

Tony, That is a wonderful little collection. All very nice pieces. I like the Order of the Rising Sun 7th Class with the non-enamelled reverse. Now you need to pick-up an example of the 7th Class with an enameled reverse. 😀 On the War Medals, if mine have marks at all they are usually either on the very left or very right of the thin bar on the reverse. I compared your Taisho Enthronement Medal to mine, and on mine there is a shield on the circle in the center of the bar that attaches to the top of the medal. It is on both the obverse and reverse. See below. Your medal has the same, but from the pictures it looks like it was not fully struck. Your Red Cross Medal has a nice dai 大 on it and your other one a nice ka カ on it. For marks on Red Cross Medals, see Medals of Asia at https://asiamedals.info/threads/marks-of-the-japanese-red-cross-society-medals.15270/#post-245933. I find looking for and discovering hallmarks/maker’s marks on my Japanese Orders, Decorations, and Medals quite rewarding. Finding items for sale with such marks clearly identified in descriptions or photos has become my latest mission. All the best, Tracy Taisho Enthronement Medal Shield Design, obverse:

Greetings, I’ve been on a bit of buying tear lately and just received this lovely four rivet reverse Order of the Sacred Treasure 6th Class with the 幣 (hei) hallmark just below the 6h rivet. This mark is known to exist only on Sacred Treasures and the current time coordinates are December 1931 to September 1933. It is believed to be a mark of the Japanese mint, but so far definitive proof is elusive. See Medals of Asia at https://asiamedals.info/threads/mark-on-japanese-order-who-and-when.15113/. The ribbon is a very, very pale blue or dirty white with yellow stripes. It came with a button rosette that is light blue with yellow stripes and it has a ス (su) mark. The case has gold kanji and the “Meiji/Taisho” stylization of 勣 (kun). I was very pleased to have this piece join my collection. Enjoy. Tracy Obverse: Reverse: HEI mark close-up: Case lid:

Hello Muhammad, Welcome to GMIC. You will find many knowledgeable contributors always willing to assist. Indian Title Badges would be under the general forum https://gmic.co.uk/forum/252-great-britain-empire-colonial-including-south-africa-india-awards-militaria-history/. You might want to have a look around there. Below is a specific thread that I found. All the best, Tracy

No One, Great pictures displaying the patch in wear. Tracy

No One, Nice catch about the welding process. Tracy

pinpon590, That is a gorgeous award. Please pardon my ignorance, but could you identify it for me? Is that an "S" mark that I see on the reverse of the ball through which the ring is threaded? Tracy

No One, Splendid medals. Nice that you have the lapel bow with the 8th class, and (I assume) the case of issue. The 7th Class with the Shobido workshop mark is simply wonderful. I venture to guess that you have a very interesting and beautiful collection. Tracy

Can’t resist jumping on this thread once again. This Golden Kite 4th Class just arrived today. Once again I’d say that it’s definitely a Showa bird, and a 7.1 at that. This would make sense, as the rosette wasn’t added to the ribbon until 1937, and this rosette doesn’t look to me as if it was a “after the fact” addition by the recipient. Most of the gilt has come off of the reverse but it is still there, and it really “shows” when compared to the reverse of my 5th Class Kite. I note that the reverse of the 4th Class is fairly pitted and imperfect. The case lid has golden kanji. Tracy Obverse: Reverse: Close-up of the Kite:

Hi Tony, Yes, capturing such marks can indeed be a difficult process. Sometimes it takes me numerous shots at varying magnifications in order to get the mark to show how I want it to show. I too originally focus on other details hoping to get the mark. Now I focus on the mark and if the other details go fuzzy, no worries. Looking forward to seeing it once you dig it out. Tracy

Thank you, No One. I was very, very pleased that the seller photographed the mark and that I was able to purchase the medal. All the best, Tracy

Nick, Nice. Would these be examples that would fit on your "Rules on the Wearing of Japanese Imperial Awards and Their Violators" page? Tracy

I have finally obtained a bit of a holy grail for me: an Order of the Rising Sun with a ヒ (hi) mark. Fortunately the seller noticed the mark and photographed it. Known time coordinates are January 1915 to January 1923. See Medals of Asia at https://asiamedals.info/threads/mark-hi-on-japanese-orders-and-medals-when-and-who.22787/. This Order of the Rising Sun 8th Class was sold to me in a spring loaded, claspless what I take to be plastic (bakelite?) case. Definitely not the case in which it was awarded, but I really wanted the medal. To me the case was an afterthought. Luckily I already have an empty case that will go perfectly with it: a nice double row golden kanji Order of the Rising Sun 8th Class case with a stylization of 勣 (kun) on the case lid that is associated with the Meiji/Taisho era. The ヒ mark is not on the bottom reverse of the 6h paulownia leaf; it is on the reverse of the ball through which the ribbon ring is threaded. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I do. Tracy Obverse. I used the flash on my phone to really bring out the detail. Unfortunately it is a bit harshly lit: Reverse: The ヒ mark close-up:

JapanX, Great link with very interesting and important information on this mon and the confusions and outright stretching of the truth (from certain sellers) surrounding these badges. Tracy

No One, I really like the stamps. Tracy