Richard LaTondre

Currently being offered on eBay. Any comments?

Thanks for sharing that. Could you tell us in what country you purchased it? Thanks, Richard

Good morning Mervyn, Thanks for that great piece of history. I agree that he must have retired in obscurity as not too much information was openly available. I do know that he served in Ceylon during WWII. But what a shame to let your personal awards turn up at auction houses. Dick

That url works fine!

Thanks Jean-Paul. The url for the above message is still truncated and not correct. You can go to Wikipedia and type in "Voynich manuscript"

Sorry, I may have given a truncated url. Here is the correct one. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript

I notice that we do not have a category for a subject of military interest. Perhaps we should have one. As an amateur radio operator (KB6GLX), I developed an interest in manual morse as a youngster. It appears that codes were used in the military prior to Napolean's "Cipher Cards". There are many collectors of military encryption devices. As a new member of the U.S. Naval Cryptologic Veteran's Association, I recently received this email concerning the enigmatic Voynich Manuscript. Speaking of ENIGMAtic, the German ENIGMA system is currently being sold on the internet: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript Dick LaTondre www.thegoldenkite.com

His name is: Sir John Waldron.

I acquired his award of the Sacred Treasure he received from the Emperor of Japan while he was the police commissioner of metropolitan London. Earlier, he was the Police Inspector in Ceylon. Dick

Thank you Javi. Richard

Recently acquired on the internet. Unfortunately, I sometimes have problems posting images on this website. They may be viewed on the OMSA website: http://www.omsa.org/forums/showthread.php?t=6313

The Order of the Striped Tiger (Wen Hu Xun Chang) was established by the President of the Republic of China (1912 -1928) Yuan Shikai. The purpose of this order was to reward members of the Chinese Army and Navy for merit during peace and war. The medal was awarded rather freely to both Chnese as well as foreign military and naval officers until the Beijing government was overthrown by the Kuomintang (Nationalist) party in 1928 and was abolished by Chang Kaishek in 1928. The tiger was considered to be one of the four supernaturally constituted beasts. which after a thousand years became a 'white' tiger and was then immortal. and was an emblem of good fortune. 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 Fourth through Seventh classes to subaltern (company grade) officers, senior noncoms lieutenants and captains. The Sixth through ninth classes to NCOs and other enlisted ranks. However, merit rather than rank was to be the main consideration when granting the award. I believe it to be one of the most prestigest of Chinese military awards based upon those great military heros of the past that were recipients of the award. Richard LaTondre www.thegoldenkite.com

Thanks Lars, I feel a bit better. Richard

Apparently, as to information offered on the OMSA website, same subject, the seller, after some astronomical bidding on this set, unexplainably withdrew the item from the auction. The question that I have is; is this morally or ethically proper? Can someone place an item up for auction and then without reason or explanation withdraw it? This appears to be a situation in which the seller is attempting to establish the 'demand' or price the public is willing to pay for his item. Perhaps I am wrong but I feel that this was an auction and the item should have gone to the highest bidder. Apparently this gentleman has done this in the past. I have posted this message on the GMIC site as well as the OMSA site due to the interest that has been generated on this subject. What is your opinion?

I have an idea that he may be from China as his name is Mr. Wu. It was easy to read the date. I would like to know who it was awarded to. It appears that the bidding will go over USD $6,000.00

There is a magnificent Order of the Striped Tiger 2nd Class up for sale on Yahoo Japan. At this posting time the bids have soared to $6,041.63 plus handling fees and exchange fees. It would be interesting to be able to read the award certificate. It looks as if it might be around 1923. Richard http://page10.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/m80615514

HiPaul. I have no argument with that except I have two of the more recent strikes and they both have a vermeer plating. I believe in the finishing process they may gold wash/or plate the complete planchet. It may be just as simple as a photograph that is not too clear. But the back of the medal certainly should show very little wear as it is well protected by its concave nature. In any event it probably would not detract from the medals authenticity. Regards, Richard

the only question that I would ask would be concerning the finish on the reverse of the medal. I have recently acquired a Second Class set and the reverse of the medal is gold plated and highly polished. All of the pins are straight and parrallel to each other. While this would not be a case of alarm it should be reason for concern. Richard

Yes! Unfortunately it was mine. Richard

Hello Hugh. Good to hear from you as always and yes, I understand your term. Thanks for reminding me. This is a very interesting medal primarily due to the history of the subject depicted. He was by far, one of the most influential Warlords during his short life span. Dick

This is a photo of the obverse. It can be seen on the OMSA medal data base. It is shown here through the courtesy of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Richard

That is correct. According to the medal it would be 1918. so your assumption is correct. In 1918 he was a Warlord and founded the Anfu club which was the political arm of the Anhui clique which at that time had won three-fourths of the seats in the National Assembly. In 1919 Xu assumed command of the Northwest Frontier Defense Army, which invaded newly independent Outer Mongolia in October. On November 17th, he forced Outer Mongolia to withdraw its declaration of autonomy, thus temporarily bringing Mongolia back under the control of China.He was later assasinated, He was a very colorful guy and died at the ripe old age of 45 on December 1925. This makes the medal a very significant part of China's Republic history, I don't know the meaning of "gear wheel flag" The flags pictured are the traditional flags of the Republic and have the stripes that represent the ethnic groups that make up the Republic. Hope this helps. Richard

Sorry. He was a Northern War Lord and not an officially appointed President of the Republic. If the characterssuggest it was his innaugeration that would be incorrect. It may have been his commemoration of the original inaugeration. Someone with a better understanding of Chinese needs to step in here and straighten this out,

It is the Xu Shuzheng Merit Medal 56x43mm in size. On the obverse should be a portrait/photograph of Xu Shuzheng surrounded by a red enameled border with a Chinese inscription reading: "10th of October (Double Ten Day) the 7th year of the Republic of China, the 2nd President Xu Shuzheng Inaugeration Commemorative Medal. The missing ribbon should be 37mm wide red with white edges. The suspension is a cloud suspension. The reverse has two crossed Republic flags joined by a rope at the crossing of six sheaves of wheat. The characters at the top read: "Commemorative medal. Richard