Dieter3

Wish I could be of help, alas, I can not!

But I'm interested in the 6th row, 2 x Red Cross bars, aside from the Manchukuo one - I can't see any difference in the picture - were there separate bars for Orders of Merit vs. the other Red Cross medals?? What is the difference??

I'm not a sword collector (though if I was, it'd be Japanese swords! - Too many fakes though I hear, so really gotta know what you're looking at!). I do collect Japanese bayonets though, and most serious collectors look down on any serious messing with them - definitely a no, no to do any sort of sharpening, rebluing, polishing beyond maybe just simply surface rust removal. The real hard core blokes don't even want to see grip screws with any signs of being touched by a driver and turned!

Here is another resource forum for you to check out if you haven't discovered it yet:

http://www.omsa.org/forums/index.php

Both of the books you mention are very good. Paul's book has a lot more info on Red Cross Medals than does the other. There are a couple of very good Japanese reference books as well, but they are only in Japanese but worth having even if you can't read them!

I wouldn't worry too much about the kanji! As far as reading them and knowing what they say is less important than what kanji are appropriate to a particular case or medal. Not too often, but you do find items up for auction that are in the wrong cases so it pays to learn what is correct and what is not for a particular medal. But if you do become serious about Japanese items, there are a couple of very good reference books out there that would be handy for you, granted they don't have an intense level of detail on cases, rosettes, or other "peripherals" - something I'm interested in, almost as much as the medals themselves!

Especially if you have an otherwise aged-looking piece - it would simply not make sense (to me anyway....) to polish a medal when the ribbon is aged. Though I could understand shining up an otherwise very nice medallion on a very nice ribbon to make it look more uniformly "minty". I've got a few that fit that description, but I have not polished them - I'm very reluctant to do so as I think chemicals belong far away from medals. I'm too clumsy, I'd ruin the rest of the piece accidentally. But I won't fault someone if they choose to beautify something, provided it would appear appropriate to the age of the rest of the piece.

Well, it is a merit medal of some kind. What exactly earned this particular award? Unknown, but if I had to guess it would likely have been for agricultural services rendered to perhaps the military or a community??

Welcome! I haven't focused on Red Cross medals quite yet, though I do have a handful. I really like the variety available in both men's and women's, the different cases, and various rosettes that are available. I'm still trying to make heads or tales of exactly which medals are appropriate to which types of cases and their proper rosettes. Basically doing a LOT of auction watching and picture analysis. Yes, I do have too much time on my hands, but it amuses me...........and I am making progress, or so I think.

It is indeed a good looking item.

And the general law I live by with medals, unless you really need to, never clean. Almost without fail items are worse off after being messed with.

About the only thing I would ever do would be to attempt to remove obvious dirt from a metal component - no touching of ribbons for sure! Polishing - I'm a bit torn on that one, have to look at all other factors of a piece - but I've never done it. I know some people do. I did have one person actually tell me about washing ribbons to make them look cleaner on pieces that were heavily soiled!

Another neat set:

Not a mini-medal, but interesting nonetheless!

http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_12_2009/post-6375-126021443283.jpghttp://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_12_2009/post-6375-126021443885.jpg

Since so few originals were issued, are there are examples of award documents for this medal? I have seen some sort of document included with a few of the veteran replicas but they look nothing like the "typical" award documents - much smaller, look to have a gold mum on them at the top. Anybody have any pictures of any of these???

Interesting! These were Aussies celebrating?

Back at ya! :cheers:

Simple Stick Pin:

Anything I'm missing?

"Modern" Merit:

O.K., I don't think this one really counts, but it's cool nonetheless, Hybrid:

So what am I missing?? Comments?? Thanks in advance.

Life Button:

Life Stick Pin:

Fancy Button:

Fancy Button w/Gold Shoulder Piece:

Fancy Stick Pin:

Simple Pin:

Simple Pin w/Gold Shoulder Piece:

O.K., bear with me on this. I'm trying to categorize all of the various red cross lapel rosettes, these are all what I've observed so far in my endeavors. Pardon the terminology that I use, and feel free to correct me on it. I just want to put up pics. first and find out if there are any varieties that I am missing here, I'd imagine there must be. If anybody can fill in any blanks that might exist, I'd appreciate it!! Here goes:

Bow Pin:

Simple Buttons, White Rays and Blue Rays

Wondering if the white rays are really white, or if this is just a crummy picture or the rays are faded.....can anybody confirm white rays?

So, is it that minis were mostly for foreigners then?

Yes, these appeared in very nice condition, no cases though. So, it appears that miniatures exist for at least some commemoratives, as well as Red Cross Merits and Special Members, and some orders.

I'm guessing - no Golden Kite minis? And I haven't seen any minis for actual campaign medals....?? Do either exist??

A few more neat minis:

Thank you Paul! Good info. So, since the consensus is that there were no cases - now I can safely wonder what the *might* have been like. Alas, I think I'll have to stick to the nice replicas. I wouldn't know a real one from a copy if I saw one! Not that I'll ever come across one anyway, but yeah, you know there's something out there, stuck in an attic or the back of an old farmhouse somewhere! Hey, the fantasy possibilities are one of the things that make it fun to collect!

My one question still remains though - did the green ribbon versions of medal, original or replica, have an accompanying rosette? Paul, if you get a chance, could you ask Mr. Mori about this??? Sounds like a good bloke to know if you're into this hobby!!

Welcome Rich! The more the merrier!

Yes, the black plastic cases are definitely well known as replicas. I personally find them to be of a high quality though. Yeah, you can tell it's plastic, but they seem well-made, and look good in my opinion. I'v only ever seen the wooden cases in pictures at auction, but I'm guessing these are of good quality, similar to the wooden cases of earlier medals, but I don't own one, so not sure. I simply can't imagine the original originals didn't come with some sort of case, like Paul suggested, most likely paste board, but I would love to really know! Somebody out there must have this information.