Dieter3

New arrival in nice shape. Ribbon has a bit of light soil in places, but not bad. I was impressed with the condition of the gold plating, hence the purchase. I'm guessing this is a later Meiji or early Taisho (?) :

Yeah, pretty common, I know. Still, love the medal. New arrival, very pleased with the condition. Came with a "matched" award document, but no pic. just yet of that. Anyway:

This board is us too quiet! All right, new arrival. I was really pleased when this one arrived. Really nice, vibrant original color, ribbon is excellent for the age, only a minimum of soiling. Medallion with typical patina. Case is really nice, very little wear and very vibrant interior. Would very much like to get another one like this:

Indeed! This forum and it's membership have been extremely valuable to me as well. Please don't hesitate to ask questions, make comments, and definitely show us your collection as you get new pieces!! No lurking only.....

Thanks!

How would this translate? : 海軍二等兵曹 Is this 2nd Class Petty Officer??

Hmmmm......well, it does look like there are gold accents on the round ends there. I suspect it is a seventh class, but as you said with the eighth class case. Not sure how I'd list that one for sale. You might list as an eight and then add of course that you suspect it could be 7th class. When in doubt, I would default to the lower class. I can see the advantages of having pieces serialized, but you're right - that'd take some of the fun guesswork out of it! Some of the more worn pieces can be confusing, especially the lower class of the Sacred Treasures, Golden Kites, and Auspicious Clouds - where they're pretty much the same thing except for the gold plating.

Well, if i was guessing - I'd say you're right, the one you think is 7th is what I'd say too, at least it looks like faint traces of gold are there in the photo. Do you have a photo of the reverse?

Definitely with earlier, Meiji-era awards, and based on observations of medals sold with certificates, somewhere into at least the early Taisho-era, though I'm not sure how far. Again, based merely on observations, and ONLY if the award/document combinations were honestly matched. It looks like at least somewhere in the 1920s, awards were coupled with the lapel buttons, but could be earlier. You'll also find these awards with gray ribbons, or those showing much more blue hues, a nice variety. You do see mixtures of ribbon colors and bow colors too - here's one I got that is a gray color bow. Another thing I love about these awards is there is so much variety within just a single class of award! There must literally be dozens and dozens of variants across the entire spectrum of Sacred Treasures from early to late.

Ah! Good to hear, I'm glad you were not mislead about this. Don't hesitate to come here and ask questions - I can't volunteer any individuals' efforts, but I'd bet you could get assistance with Japanese language stuff here if needed.

Simply stunning!!

Keep up posted on whether or not the seller gives you a hard time. Hopefully the return will go smoothly. And don't hesitate to post more often, no more lurking only! ;)

That is a post-war replica. The hook and catch appear to be of a type used on more modern medals. The white bands are not as wide as originals and the ribbon narrows too much at it's bottom where it attaches to the ring. The suspension ball and ring are also different. Original cases are of lacquered wood and have a hasp on the fronts. I'm assuming that yours is of a hard plastic, with a spring-loaded hinge?? Original medals have rivets/screws on the reverse, you can see Paul's posting on dating this award. I don't know about Golden Kites since they were abolished early after the end of WWII, but what I've observed as apparently very late war, or early post-war (based on medals with certificates, for what that's worth....) Scared Treasures, these also have plain reverses, lacking rivets and screws, but still in lacquered cases. Unknown of the purpose of your medal - simply a collector's replica, or an actual veteran replica - I'd imagine a great many military persons were due this award that could not receive an original, just a thought, simply my opinion - we should let an actual expert comment on this now.

In Japan these are selling from (recently) 12,000-19,000 or so on the average, depending on the condition, average to good. Some very nice pieces (very good condition really, or so the pictures would indicate!) have been fetching upwards of 30,000 yen, so you can do the dollar conversion. They don't come up on eBay nearly as often, but I'd probably tack an additional 20-30% onto the converted values. They mostly seem to be later, Showa-era pieces.

Yikes! Up to $9743.00 U.S. with nearly two days to go! Looks like Mr. Wu**** has beed outbid by somebody with some deep pockets!

All I can say is that is cool!! Thanks for showing that. I'm sure Paul or Rich C. will have good input on this. Might even want to check Rich's website, he might have something there, not sure.

Something else worth looking into, but perhaps hard to control to fine degree, is temperature - and it's relationship to RH. Could be very helpful for you to determine the best way to maintain a collection within your circumstances.

Don't forget a cleaning rod! Sling a bit harder to find, bayonet no problem, plenty of those out there! :lol:

For all of my metals, including bayonets, I use RIG - Rust Inhibitive Grease. It's not a thick, messy grease - very clean and easy to use, excellent protective qualities. Will not damage wood either. However - I do also use Renaissance Wax on wood grips and gun stocks, I'm very pleased with the results. Prior to using that though I do clean wood grips with Kodak Photoflow in distilled water (I also use this for wooden cases for my medals). Like the RenWax, a little goes a long way and safely removes a significant amount of dirt while being gentle on the wood. Another oil alternative to consider would be Choji oil (99:1 mineral/clove oil, NOT pure clove oil!)

40-50% is good for a mixed materials collection.

One that stands out was a C&R rifle delivered to me by UPS that was supposed to have a signature for it so they wouldn't simply abandon the package on my porch. Well, not only did they leave the package sitting there while I was at work without getting the signature, the idiot sender had packed the thing with the bolt in place and it had managed to punch right through thin layer of bubble wrap and the side of the box since the rifle had a a bolt handle that sticks out straight instead of curved downwards. Box was too narrow for this, and UPS isn't exactly gentle in handling all of its packages. Fortunately, there was no damage to the rifle or the bolt.

Sure is a nice award, but I'd be really nervous about dropping that kind of coin on something I couldn't see in person unless I was buying it from somebody like Paul or Richard, or at least getting their advice first!

HA! You've been "bitten"! Your first Japanese award, sounds like it won't be your last! I especially like the case on your award - the kanji for 8 (八) is a form less often seen as compared to others, at least from my observations.