Dieter3

Were there post-war versions with the rivets?

An interesting twist, I guess that is entirely possible! I'm totally unfamiliar with the practices of the Japanese army with regards to using foreign personnel.

I totally agree with Paul. If you're really interested in this award and class, save your bucks and wait until a complete set comes along. It's not often, but a complete set in my opinion is a much better investment than bits and pieces.

One of these went on Yahoo! Japan the other day, complete with breast star and case, missing the lapel rosette, for ¥263,000, almost $3,000 U.S. Condition was fairly good, I believe it was an older piece.

I figured there would have been one. I know Peterson makes mention of a woman's version on bow, would love to see one of these too, never have. I'd imagine this would fetch a seriously pretty penny!!! Paul, does the document show an image of the medal at the bottom? If so, I'm wondering if an award document to a woman would show this with a bow, like say a Sacred Treasure doc. would show. (same question on the 2600th Anniversary document - I know that image is on the doc., but have never seen a document for a woman's medal - does it show a bow in the image??)

Thanks Paul. Yes, if that is the Korean Annexation medal, he must be close to 20 years with that uniform! Like I mentioned before, he aged well!! Alas, I know nothing more about this fellow, just a simple photo repro I got off of eBay as I thought it was a nice one showing the two medals.

I don't know anything about uniforms, ranks, insignias, etc. I posted this on another forum and got some info, possibly this fellow belonged to the 77th regiment, 20th division? Appear that the 20th division was in Korea - and correct me if I'm wrong - but I believe the medals he is wearing are the Korean Annexation medal, and 1914/15 or 1914/20 war medal. Apparently this uniform was introduced in 1930, so I'm trying to put the pieces together. If I'm correct on the medals, then this soldier aged well if he's wearing a uniform from 1930+ and wondering if it's unusual that he doesn't have any other awards there? What can you gents tell me? Sorry, the pic. pretty small here.

Been looking for a nice one of these for a while, finally found one I liked. Case has a bit of abrading on the exterior, but the interior and the medal itself more than made up for it! One thing I'd like to know is whether or not a document was issued with these. My guess is yes, but I've never seen one so I simply don't know. Paul? Anybody?

Saw one at auction last week, Meiji or Taisho if I remember correctly, I think Meiji. The picture was not big, so it was hard to tell - but it looked like there was no rosette on the ribbon at the bottom of the document.

These are great rifles. I can't tell from the pics. - does yours have a dust cover? Which arsenal?

New to me too, though I do believe they flew recon. in Jan. and Feb. to get an idea of the results of the Dec. 7th attack and how things had progressed since.

Midway (in the Pacific anyway...)

Thanks! For the age it is very good. It has a few small flaws but all in all I'm quite pleased with it.

Nabbed another pair. Both with some small abrasions and general soiling, but I'd rate 'em fair to good. First one is 大" hallmarked, not same side as above though. Second one is unmarked:

Just got this one:

Don't feel too bad - I've knowingly put hundreds of dollars in to otherwise junk firearms just to get a single part off of 'em!! My wife doesn't know this.......

Oh, you'd have found a place.......

Uh oh, sounds like this dude has a reputation!

What kinds of cases did you encounter with these?

Ha!! That makes sense actually. They almost look cast, not stamped - is that the case? Definitely worth having in a collection!

Ah, that's not cool at all. What's that saying? - "Buyer Beware!" - It's lame that people do stuff like that to begin with, but buyers really need to make sure they know what they are buying, do that research!!

Do you know the approximate time in which they made the transition from rivet->screw->plain?

I'm wondering about something with regards to 4th class Golden Kites. Peterson's book indicates that the 4th class award had the ribbon rosette added in 1937. This along with the sticky on how to date awards coupled with some observations have me pondering this and looking for clarification. Earlier awards do have the rivets closer together, right? Do these typically predate 1937? A few awards that I have observed have the ribbon rosette, but they would seem to be earlier awards based on the rivet pattern as well as the hook and catch mechanisms that seem more common on earlier awards (generalization, not limited to the Golden Kite on this). I suppose it wouldn't be unheard of to add a rosette after the fact to earlier awards, or just replace the entire ribbon? I know the documents are rare - but do these demonstrate the presence and absence of the ribbon rosettes in the image on the documents??

Apparently, the insert was dated 1944 - but I agree with you and surmise that it is an original duplication of an original! In other words, it really came with post-war medal as an example of what would have been with the originals, or perhaps intended to be with originals?? Dunno, but it seems to somewhat widen the mystery surrounding this intriguing award!