Japanese mint marks

[fjcp]

I was wondering, how many different mint marks are there for Japanese orders and medals.

I know of the "M" mark for Osaka, I think, but how about the rest?

I'm wondering about one that actually looks a little like this " t " in particular.

Any ideas?

thanks

JC

Edited October 3, 2006 by fjcp

[fjcp]

Here is a pic of the mint mark in question!

It's on a sacred treasure 5th class

Edited October 3, 2006 by fjcp

[Paul L Murphy]

Information on mint marks is hard to find since the Mint records are not available (destroyed in the war apparently). M is the normal Osaka mint mark but the dates it was used are variable. The t mintmark is believed to be of a private manufacturer.

You find a lot of different private marks on Red Cross medals in particular since they were made by a variety of different private firms, as well as the mint. The mark on yours, like a t, is actually the Japanese character "hee". Most of the other marks found are also Japanese phoenetic characters but you do get the odd kanji (chinese character) here and there.

Regards,

Paul