Dieter3

Here is another like yours - but notice the clasp on the medallion - a distinctly different type of metal - clearly capable of oxidizing differently than aluminum!

To all of our friends, collegues, and fellow collectors in Japan on this one year anniversary of the terrible earthquake and tsunami - you remain in our thoughts and prayers.

Thanks! It's a really nice piece. The original cases actually have gilt writing on them and a different liner (totally different color). I'm really uncertain on just how rare they are. I've seen a few of them for sale in typically large groups of medals and badges, gonna start looking for them more routinely though!

Taisho 12 (1923) - Commemorative of rescue efforts for the Great Kanto Earhtquake. These seem to be fairly uncommon from what I've observed. This case is a modern replacement as the originals are specifically marked and have a different interior liner. I wonder what kinds of medals or commemorative pieces will be made for the Tsunami of 2011, if any??? Anyway.....

Best I can tell, this type of pin belongs to Red Cross support groups and can be found for the various prefectures as well as Tokyo - this one says Kon Jyu Kai, short for Ni Seki Kon Jyu Yuu Kou Kai, the Tokyo group. Wondering if you gents have any more info on these - do I have that straight? Who made the pins - were they made by the Red Cross prefectural branches and given to the various groups? I've seen a few of these with their cases and they seem to indicate a prefectural branch on the case, and bottoms of the pins. What specifically was it that got somebody one of these? Donations? Volunteer work? Any additional info appreciated!

Na, it's not the post - it's a particular buyer/seller that is a liar and a thief, the person discussed above. He's a bottom feeder.

The wider case (yeah, I know, it's a silver not a gold, but the cases are the same on the inside..... ) :

New arrival, Gold Order of Merit. Pretty decent, medal is nothing unusual, but this example is one that comes in a narrower case - I'm assuming this predates the most modern of awards in which they all appear to have the same case (wide) just to simplify things, and then merely altering the interior lower insert. Picture of a later order shown for comparison.

Is this a generalization about medals, or is this specific to the China Incident Commemorative? If it is with regards to the later, then wouldn't Peterson be somewhat correct about being for Chinese collaborators (but then incomplete in it being awarded to contributors in several of countries/terrirtories)? It is strange - I know a LOT of you blokes have been collecting for a long time - and nobody has claimed a sighting of a case or a document - you'd think SOMEBODY would have seen one over the past, what are we talking with some of you guys - many decades of collecting!! So, RE: the amendment to the edict cited above by Nick K., Point #2 - still does not account for th period Rich has mentioned - not quite 2 years - but a very significant period of time. I still don't think this expains why so few were given out, particularly if it was intended for Japanese. That the China Incident medal continued to be issued into 1945, I assume with cases, we certainly know the capacity to make cases was still there at the time when this medal was established - or did they put a hold on production for whatever reason - and it ended up in a similar fate as the Great East Asia War medal? - Few and far between, and without cases (or did in fact the original GEAW medals have cases?). Something still doesn't add up, at least not for me. Somebody help my inability to understand this. :lol:

You're right, it does state that right under the photo - I was reading the text right under that and may have misinterpreted that to the photo being the miniature! :o

Thankfully!! ;)

UGGH! That is an AWFUL 7th Class!! YUCK! Plastic ribbon, wow.....!!

Now, the caption on that photo implies that it is a miniature version.....I wonder if the miniatures have this additional thin stripe? I would agree though, it sure looks "red" to me - I would think even in that black and white photo that yellow would be very hard to see, so I don't it is a yellow stripe - but I don't know much about B&W photography! ;)

Hi Nick, I see you point, but I've also seen this mechanism used elsewhere, and this just does not seem to occur, not to mention - I think others would come to the defense of the honest ones if it were to happen.

Hi Rich, No, no, I hear you. eBay was worthless when it came to my dealing with "Mr. Singapore" - why I completely will not even deal with that country, thanks to that one dishonest jerk. I wonder what his eBay ID is these days...??? So - what I meant by being backed by PayPal and eBay is that they do seem to protect the buyer - so if you buy with those mechanisms your chances are better for controlling issues of fakes, etc. As a seller? Yeah, they do not look out for the seller and the fees are onerous, but it is still a good sales outlet. One thing though that i really HATE about eBay is that they have policies about this and that, like no GUNS and no NAZI stuff. But what can you expect out of a bunch of politically correct California based companies? Oh well. Buit yes - a THREAD of SHAME would be nice, as well as a THREAD of KUDOS for people to express their positive experiences with buying/selling too.

Fantastic revelations here! Is it possible to get more information on the amended edict? Nick, Nick K. found it somewhere obviously, can you ask him if he has the info for posting here?

Very nice! The ones that I have seen for sale, and they are few, have never had cases but the majority of them have been for sale in Japan! I'm not sure what exactly that means - "unknown in Japan" - would seem to indicate that it was not awarded to Japanese, so the medals must have made their way back to Japan from, I'm assuming China. In Rich Catalano's eBook, "The Imperial Ordinances for War and Commemorative Medals of Japan and Manchukuo" (4th Edn.), it is also stated that neither cases nor award documents have been observed. I think it is safe to conclude to that a case does not exist. We know this is a rare medal, but I'm wondering just how may might have been made? And are they rare out of being destroyed so the recipient would not be found with one (certainly not a good thing to be discovered by the forces fighting the Japanese!) - or were they really made in few numbers? Thanks for sharing this wonderful piece!! Oh - and a picture of the reverse would be great if you can!! :)

AWESOME! :love: :love:

Why all you can say is keep your purchases among reputable sellers and hopefully backed by systems like eBay and PayPal that can lend support when fakes are identified! I know this isn't always possible, especially with higher class or rare items that are likely to end up for sale elsewhere. And you already said it - DEALER HONESTY! We need the thread of "SHAME" here for people to highlight their questionable dealings and alert others on who or what to watch.

Ah, dunno about that! I think the replica cases are different enough from real ones. Yeah, they're good! But you can tell they are not made the same way and the lacquering is different. Hardware kinda gives them away too, at least in the lower orders - we've probably seen these on eBay, and I've seen one of these in person. Yes, the quality is good, but it was identifiable as replica - but they are honestly sold as replicas too. For a high class of order, somebody might go to the trouble to make a proper lacquerware case to try to pass it as authentic, but I just don't think it'd be worth the effort in general. But I could be wrong! It's been known to happen..... ;)

Fantastic, isn't it?? :)