Dieter3

Yes - the great silver & gold kanji mystery!! I wonder - can we learn anything about this from the China Incident Medal with silver kanji in the late 30s as for a time table? Not an absolute one of course, but I wonder if box makers began to tinker with the silver with the orders at that time?

This was a 6th Class award, sold June 6th, 2010. Unfortunately, not to me! Do I need to get a life, or what? :lol:

Despite the ubiquity, still one of my favorite medals and just gotta appreciate a decent one when you find it! Here is a nice example of the variant with the rounded bar across the back. In addition to the wrapper, it also had another wrapper inside that one. I've acquired a few other pieces that have this seemingly formed tissue - anybody know if these things were wrapped like this from the mint?

Finally managed a decent specimen of the other variant. I think this is the one Peterson said was the rarer of the two? Not convinced of that. Anyway, not perfect but not too bad:

A new addition to my very small Rising Sun family, post-war 7th Class. It's got a small bubble in the enamel, a few very light marks on the reverse, and some tarnishing to the hook/catch, but otherwise it's in pretty nice condition, really clean ribbon and an immaculate case.

Must be the same, no doubt! Every impression is there!! No, I think the 1956+ period was getting better by that time. This thing is pre-56. Remember, the medal is still a nice piece - but why the cheap cases? Well, not being government issued might have something to do with it? Let's face it, the war and post-war periods were not good times, so maybe the Red Cross was trying to save some money - or perhaps thaey had to? Resources (like labor) may have been stretched thinner so the good stuff/fabricators/parts, etc., went to government stuff and everybody else got the "scraps" so to say. As to other cases being nice - perhaps there was a large stock of them that had already been made up well in advance?? Just theorizing!

http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_12_2011/post-6375-0-40318700-1325033183.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_12_2011/post-6375-0-44239500-1325033192.jpg

O.K., this is for Nick! So, you remember that "problematic" lady's medal? Well, here's the man's version - Bakelite case, same mildly-crude construction, but unlike the woman's, this one's rosette is the "standard" button. No other identifying marks whatsoever. Simply fascinated by these.

That is possible! But the frame has no hangers, it only has a pop-out stand, so it was meant for sitting on something. And here is the other bit that I forgot to include - when I disassembled the frame I found affixed to the back a kind of charm in caligraphy from a shrine that was intended to bring safety to one's home, or so it seems. Why it is there, I do not know - it does not seem to be realted to the medal, but must have been considered a safe place to keep it by its owner. I'm led to believe it belonged to an individual rather than an institution, but there is no way to be sure. That word, maboroshi, is odd indeed as you suggest. It is a very nuancced word in Japanese and I believe it was not meant to be taken on face value, but rather taken for its more cultural subtleties within the context of the piece's creation, I don't know that it can be readily translated into English. But perhaps then these were at one time available to the public, maybe sold at museums or the like? There is zero identifying information on the frame or any part of it unfortunately so no leads even to follow! And as nice a display as it would make on my walll - it's going into a box. :lol:

Hiya Nick! And a Merry Christmas to you as well! Been busy, but have a little time to breathe now..... Yes, yes - well, had to get myself something for Christmas! Acquired several items recently, will eventually get around to posting a few anyway. Mostly Red Cross pieces including the Men's analog to that "Mystery Medal", remember that one? But I really ike this one. Looks even nicer in person. But no clues as to who may have once owned it. :(

New acquisition. I wonder if this is the type with a blank reverse, my guess is yes. The medal is firmly attached, must be glue as there is nothing penetrating through the backing so I guess I'll never know for sure. There are a few dings in the frame, otherwise in near mint condition - must never have been displayed, at least not in the sun.

Nick, do you know more about the specific instances of each issuance, circumstances, details, anything?

VERY NICE! Excellent post!! :love:

Well, I don't know. On the surface it might seem so. Personally, I think it is better to have these kinds of things specific to each area of collecting. On Gunboards, it is a separate subforum within the Japanese Board. It works quite well really as it keeps the general talk separate from dedicated, sales-only related stuff. (Though they actually do For Sale as well as Wanted there - called the Japanese Trader) Personally, I think it is great. Then people that are interested can subscribe to that sub-forum. As far as subscriptions are concerned, I don't personally care to get notifications of every post that would be made to the section on this board because a lot of it does not apply to my interests. However, if it were here, people could readily subscribe and it would cut the chase more. No??? Of course it requires a bit of setup, but once its done, its done. The maintenance is easy enough. But this is for the board owner to decide, but I would be most appreciative if it could be taken into consideration.

Close! 1979! (Show 54) - Not sure though when it was actually given out. I'd imagine there were many, many ceremonies for these over a span of several years????

Here's a nice example of a complete piece; medal, lapel button, case, case wrapper, cardboard box, mini explanatory document. These aren't exactly rare, but this one has a neat addition of being marked on the inside of the lid - Independent Infantry, 122nd Battalion. I've seen several of these as well as the campaign medals with writing, attributing these to various military branches, certainly fun to collect!

Thanks Gents. It would definitely have to come from the highest powers, those that can modify the forum itself so maybe I will contact Nick shortly unless he happens to chime in here. I suspect a lot of people do not visit the For Sale/Wanted sections, I know I seldom do. Perhaps I'm just lazy, but I'd prefer to cut to the chase as would most I suspect - to focus on what your interests are. I mean, the people with the Japanese interests are obviously here, so what better place to post a Want Ad for a Japanese item? There is one on Gunboards in the Japanese section and it works pretty well.

So, NO interest in this?

Hi Rob, The date for the Rising Sun is the same as the others - December 15th, 8th year of Taisho (1919). This is really interesting I have a pair of the same documents to the same person (not the same person as you of course!!) the campaign document # is 38,010 and the victory medal doc. # is 37,551 - difference being 459. Yours shares a difference of 457. Huh. (Same dates of issue.) Sorry, these small irrelevancies fascinate me!! So it looks like the victory medals are slightly off to the campaign medals. I wonder what factors play into the discrepancies - perhaps simultaneous issuing of medals with the 1914-15 war medal? The other ones I have for either medal were issued on November 1st, Taisho 9th year. Anybody have any other dates of issue on these?? Rob, always admirable to attempt to reassemble groups like this. Like you said, hard to do, but I will certainly keep my eyeballs peeled. Here's an idea - on the Japanese gun collector forums, there is a pinned thread dedicated to the matching of bolts for people to attempt to get the correct bolt back to the correct rifle as a large number of them were mixed up. I think this would be a heart idea for this forum too in an attempt for others to seek out missing documents, etc.