JapanX

And now this Medal of Honor on Dark Blue Ribbon issued in 1956 ;)

Doc + official translation

Now check out this 3rd class sacred treasure from 1954

Well, does it means that the watershed between gold and silver kanji lies somewhere between 1937 and 1938? I think it doesn`t. I think boxes with gold and silver kanji co-existed during this (and later) time period. There could be several different manufacturers of the boxes one of which (by reason unknown to us) used silver kanji... You see we know for a fact that in 1946 there were boxes with gold kanji See http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/topic/51243-order-of-the-sacred-treasure/page__st__40 posts #49 and #50

Details :rolleyes:

Doc

Obverse

Interesting, that the box for 7th class Golden Kite issued to Miriya Yoshihisa on August 22, 1937 has golden kanji

Doc

.

The lowest time estimate will be 5th Class Golden Kite from DavidS collection. It was awarded to Okada Hitoshi on September 23, 1939

Very often you can hear that silver kanji on the box lid indicates that this box (and its content) came straight from WWII period (i.e. 1941-1945). Is it really so? Of course no. This is just another naïve and wrong belief … I think the actual time boarders for boxes with silver kanji are [1938 (minimum time estimate known to me); 1956 (maximum time estimate known to me)] Let`s take a look at evidence

Slightly better quality fake. Numbered. Non-silver.