JapanX

Short reply from "another poster" "Virtually all.." - not true "All ribbons that we see in Western market" (not true - there are red ribbon examples in case of Arts&Science order and on the same Western market). What are these others markets I wonder?! Iran?!?!? And of course different green shades of ribbons could mean only one thing - dealers replacements! No doubt about it. We are not talking about European order here, but about Persian order with long list of different manufacturers. "You had no idea"/"are you intelligent" - I've heard this already James It's not even funny anymore ... And of course everything is up to me James Don't worry about that. I made this thread not for you or because of you, but because I thought it's a nice thing to do for couple of my mates in this section of the forum.

"Blue for the court (Persian court - Persisch Hof), green for foreigners and red or white for (other) Persian citizens" ----- "If he says such different things to different people reading him, he must be wrong somewhere along the line!" Another brilliant conclusion. Only "perfectly clear" phrase is missing...

Hi Uwe I think one of the possible reasons why the description is the same could be because Mericka ("Orders and Decorations", London: Paul Hamlyn, 1969) borrowed it from Gritzner (please correct me if I am wrong). James firmly believe in Shahs firman that was issued in 1872 (James translation from French could be found here http://web.archive.org/web/20050304091119/http://www.4dw.net/royalark/Persia/Orders/lionsun4.htm) Everything that is not in accordance with this firman is "replacement" made by dilettante dealers for such unintelligent persons like me. The problem is that we don't have firman color discription for Arts&Science order ribbon (at least I don't have this description ) Another problem - all L&S orders that we see nowadays have green ribbons (including standing lion versions). And if they all "replacements", then why dilettante dealers (as we know - they read Gritzner ) replace all blue, red and white ribbons. And then again - many of these green ribbons are looking good (at least they are old enough to be authentic). Only orders of Arts&Science have red ribbons and some medals (issued before 1925) of this order have red ribbons also. Well, maybe in some point between 1872 and 1925 another regulation was adopted? Just a thought... Cheers, Nick

And very nice authentic box for the badge

And my recent acquisition – Aichi Prefecture wound association badge numbered 1268.

Reverse

Obverse

Very nice Hyogo Prefecture wound association badge numbered 3717. We`ve seen such badge in post # 114, but this time we have a photo of reverse!

Reverse

Obverse

And now another association badge with central kanji “member”. But this one has very low number 52.

Reverse

Here you have same badge (with same reverse inscription), but in white enamel (and with damaged central tablet). Obverse

And now some interesting small addendums to the old material. Well, remember this badge from # 83 – Good conduct badge (a.k.a. “distinguished” badge).

Reverse

Obverse

Badge in the box

And here we have another excellent boxed (!) example of such badge. This one was issued 11 years later in 1989. It is inscribed on reverse “Merit Badge, National Wounded Soldier Association, 1989, National Meeting, Sponsored by Okayama City".

The reverse (sorry – no photo of reverse) reads “Meritorious Badge, 1978, Welcome Visit by the Emperor & Empress, Japan Wounded Soldier Association Foundation”.

Angled view

Close up of obverse

And here comes the first (and the earliest known) badge of the wound association designed after this Merit Badge. Real beauty! Obverse

Commemorative badges designed after Japanese Army merit badge “White oval” commemorative badges have close relatives – commemorative badges designed after Army Military Merit Badge. Here it is.

The upper hieroglyph reads “Celebration!” inscription under the pin reads “Welcome Visit by the Emperor & Empress, Japan Wounded Soldier Association Foundation”. Unfortunately there is no date. I think this badge is not exact equivalent of badge from post # 141. Here and there one could detect small differences in design.

Reverse