Richard LaTondre

Does anyone recall what class this award was? Richard

Hello Nick, I knew we would get some great input from you. Another question about our 'Tiger' has arisen. The first produced striped tiger portrays a benign somewhat cherubic tiger sitting in a field of green grass. Let us assume that this first tiger was made at Lao TienLie's work shop. He was the master in enamels. Let us say he was commissioned to produce 100 awards in the niine grades, This would mean his shop produced 800 medallions of cloisonne depicting a tiger sitting in a field of grass looking off to his left.. I am intentionally leaving the ninth class out of this illustration as it appears to have a different tiger pose on the obverse which we will discuss later (if we haven't already bored our fellow collectors to death). I don't believe that he painstakingly took up his paint brush and by himself painted 800 tiger medallions, So he must have had a contingent of artists to help perform this task. What were the guidelines? Did he say "All of the tigers will have their tail raised and on this tail there will be 10 stripes." This was accomplished in the days prior to any type of photographic reproduction. So how did they do it? How did they maintain a semblance of uniformity? I have some ideas as to how this may have been accomplished. In all the years that the tiger was manufactured, many variations naturally occured. How would one identify a fake? How far off the path of uniformity could these artists go? Something to think about, Richard

This could be a striped tiger medal that was manufactured in Japan. This being the case, it would explain the lack of seal and hallmark, I ran accross a reference to Japanese made Tigers while recently doing some research on the Morton and Eden archive section. Pictures would help. Richard www.thegoldenkite.com

Thanks Nick. The mystery is solved and thank you for your very excellent posts. Richard

I believe that when Yuan Shikai (pardon my Wade-Giles) founded the order 6 December 1912 the statute stated that it would be, ... awarded for merit in war and peace. The first through fourth classes were to be awarded to officers of high rank. The third through sixth classes to officers of middle (field grade) rank. The fouth through seventh classes to subaltern (company grade) officers, sergeant majors, lieutenants and officer candidates. The sixth through ninth classes to NCOs and enlisted ranks. However, merit rather than rank, was the determining factor when considering the granting of the award. An interesting side note is that the tiger was considered to be one of the four constituted beasts, which after a thousand years became a 'White Tiger' and was then immortal and was an emblem of good fortune.

I Have been holding my breath on this for over four months hoping someone would ask this question and I would not look stupid, but alas no one has asked, why is there a rosette on this 5th Class Wen HU? Richard

A treasure trove of information that fills a long existing void in the early development of China's history. This is a volume that was attempted by some in the past but never brought to fruition. With the limited first printing this is gauranteed to be a collector's edition par exellence. I am proud to be a small part of this big project. Congratulations Gavin. We are all proud of you! Richard La Tondre

Gentlemen: This forum was intended to be used for the discussion of medals, not the selling methodology used on eBay.We all admit that it is mysterious and rare, We are losing sight of our original purpose. An attempt to learn its origin and disposition. We need to find someone that may still be alive and not ashamed of the fact that he was awarded this medal. Is this possible? he would be over 77 years of age! I think that the answer to our mystery award may lie in the imperial vault of the National Diet. Richard www.thegoldenkite.com

Thank you Nick. Best Regards, Richard

Hi Nick! Sorry. I must have dozed off.

I ran across this item the other day on eBay. It is a beautiful laquered medal case for the Order of the Rising Sun 4th Class that is far more elaborate than the average case. It is also much smaller than the normally issued case 4 3/4" x 3 1/4" (120mm x 80mm). Does anyone know the significance of this version? Perhaps it is awarded to an individual that has a higher ranking in the heirarchy?

Hi Frank! Good to hear from you and thanks Nick for helping him navigate the picture posting situation. Dick

Beautiful!

Hi Nick, I thought that you would have snapped that up by now. It will be interesting to see what it does. I sold one last year for about 1k at the OMSA convention.

There is currently one on eBay being offered by Gunjinantiques.

Gentleman. I should have known never to doubt Nick. I certainly was wrong. That is indeed the founder of the Republic. Here is a snapshot I took of him while we were on vacation (only fooling)

Hi Gavin! Good to see your post as I haven't heard from you in awhile. Nick says that the gentleman on the medal is Dr. Sun Yat-Sen. What are your thoughts? He seems to look rather young (of course everone appears to look young to me now that I am in my eighties). Best Regards, Dick

Does anyone have any information regarding this beauty? It would help if I had an image of the reverse. The star is 50mm diameter. Dick

Yes, because while they were attempting to shoot him down, they managed to shoot down a Mig19 piloted by Sergio Safronov. . .

The Wall Street Journal today stated that former U2 pilot Capt. Gary Powers was posthumously awarded the Silver Star by the U.S. Air Force. Captain Powers was shot down over the soviet union during a reconnaissance flight and spent two years in a soviet prison. He was released during a prisoner of war swap for the exchange of a Russian colonel. Richard

Hi Nick! Do we know the name of the gentleman on the medal? Thanks, Richard

Hello Nick, I thought I would butt in and noone would notice. But you have sharp eyes. Thanks again for all of your efforts. Regards, Richard

Hello Bill, I am thinking that maybe you are just starting to collect Chinese medals. If this is the case it might be a good idea to look at a few reference books on Chinese medals as well as visiting this web site often. I cannot ascertain the quality or origin of your medals in your photo, but true Kuomintang medals are fairly scarce and as such demand higher prices. It appears that your medals were manufactured on the Mainland primarily for the tourist trade by a burgeoning group of reproduction people that make a living in this area of collecting. Please exercise caution when dealing with these people and good luck in your collecting pursuits. Richard www.thegoldenkite.com

I know that I sound like a broken record but what do all of these medals have in common? A dull flat reverse that looks very unfinished. The real ones (so far) are vermeil/gilt washed and usually polished with imperfect stamping (depth variations on the singular characters) Richard

http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_05_2012/post-3065-0-08883700-1337107829.jpgHere is my medal for you.