Show Your Japanese Medal Hallmarks & Maker's Marks

[Gunjinantiques]

This might be interesting and educational for us all... Show the front of the item then a nice picture of the mark... The first item is the 1928 Emperor Showa enthronement medal. This one has a "S" on the ring. I assume it stands for "Silver."

[Gunjinantiques]

This might be interesting and educational for us all... Show the front of the item then a nice picture of the mark... The first item is the 1928 Emperor Showa enthronement medal. This one has a "S" on the ring. I assume it stands for "Silver."

Emperor Puyi state visit to Japan medal with "M 1000" on the ring. That 1000 certainly denotes the silver content. And according to the OMSA book the M is for the Osaka mint...

[Richard LaTondre]

Emperor Puyi state visit to Japan medal with "M 1000" on the ring. That 1000 certainly denotes the silver content. And according to the OMSA book the M is for the Osaka mint...

Thanks John,

This is good information and hope Paul includes a section on hallmarks in his forthcoming book.

Dick

[Paul L Murphy]

Thanks John,

This is good information and hope Paul includes a section on hallmarks in his forthcoming book.

Dick

Dont worry, I will. However it is problematic since there is a lot of views that the marks represent different makers but nobody seems to have the underlying information or proof in this regard.

[Richard LaTondre]

Dont worry, I will. However it is problematic since there is a lot of views that the marks represent different makers but nobody seems to have the underlying information or proof in this regard.

Hi Paul,

This is quite true. But I think that we have enough people out there that will share their bits of information with you. Perhaps once YOU have all of this data YOU may come up with some rhyme or reason for these marks. I have some old Japanese books on the Osaka mint that I will dig up for you.

Believe me, you will have a lot of support from people, including myself, to help you in your project.

Best Regards,

Dick

[fjcp]

Hi Paul,

This is quite true. But I think that we have enough people out there that will share their bits of information with you. Perhaps once YOU have all of this data YOU may come up with some rhyme or reason for these marks. I have some old Japanese books on the Osaka mint that I will dig up for you.

Believe me, you will have a lot of support from people, including myself, to help you in your project.

Best Regards,

Dick

Just wondering....

I've seen marks on many many medals and sacred treasures etc.

Have any of you ever seen a mark on a Golden kite?

I've got several and I've seen/looked at dozens and I don't recall ever seeing one....

Any thoughts?

JC

[Gunjinantiques]

Just wondering....

I've seen marks on many many medals and sacred treasures etc.

Have any of you ever seen a mark on a Golden kite?

I've got several and I've seen/looked at dozens and I don't recall ever seeing one....

Any thoughts?

JC

Gosh, I can't recall ever seeing one marked either. Paul would know if anyone does.

[Gunjinantiques]

Here's a 4th class sacred treasure with what I thought looked like the kanji "BI" on the back. Same kanji used in "BIJIN" (beautiful woman). Upon closer inspection I think it reads "HEI." The same character is used in ZOUHEIKYOKU (The Japan Mint). :speechless:

Edited March 26, 2009 by Gunjinantiques

[naoki matsumoto]

Here's a 4th class sacred treasure with what I thought looked like the kanji "BI" on the back. Same kanji used in "BIJIN" (beautiful woman). Upon closer inspection I think it reads "HEI." The same character is used in ZOUHEIKYOKU (The Japan Mint).

e

Nice! Zui-hou-medal of 4 :cheers:

[Richard LaTondre]

Gosh, I can't recall ever seeing one marked either. Paul would know if anyone does.

I believe that all Golden Kites are minted at the Osaka mint. About ten years ago a number of spankingly new, supposedly unissued medals showed up for sale by dealers in the Carlisle Barracks area of PA. They were ostensibly obtained by a US army ranger colonel who was a collector and commanded a ranger unit during the initial occupation of Osaka. I don't know how true this story is but it was said that immediately after the landing he made it to the mint and removed a quantity of medals. In any event, I have never noticed a mint mark on a Golden Kite. Maybe this is a start for a section in Paul's book.

Dick

[Tim B]

They do exist! You see them occasionally on ebay, but not nearly as often as the unmarked ones. I even seen one 6th class marked with "M" within the last year. Outbid though, of course!

This one is not mine; owned by another collector.

Tim

Edited March 27, 2009 by Tim B

[Tim B]

Here's a 4th class sacred treasure with what I thought looked like the kanji "BI" on the back. Same kanji used in "BIJIN" (beautiful woman). Upon closer inspection I think it reads "HEI." The same character is used in ZOUHEIKYOKU (The Japan Mint).

I think you were thinking of this one John.

Tim

[Gunjinantiques]

They do exist! You see them occasionally on ebay, but not nearly as often as the unmarked ones. I even seen one 6th class marked with "M" within the last year. Outbid though, of course!

This one is not mine; owned by another collector.

Tim

Oh yeah, now I remember, I DID have one. And it sold on eBay for cheap. I remember thinking it was going to sell for a good price because it was marked and it sold for less than one with no mark. You win some, you lose some... I'm sure it's the only Golden Kite I've ever seen that was marked. They must be quite rare, because I've had several pass through my hands...

Edited March 27, 2009 by Gunjinantiques

[Paul L Murphy]

Oh yeah, now I remember, I DID have one. And it sold on eBay for cheap. I remember thinking it was going to sell for a good price because it was marked and it sold for less than one with no mark. You win some, you lose some... I'm sure it's the only Golden Kite I've ever seen that was marked. They must be quite rare, because I've had several pass through my hands...

I have seen a number of 6th and 7th class Golden Kite's with the m mintmark but I have never seen any other mark on them. Also I do not recall seeing it on anything higher than a 6th class.

I would certainly welcome all the information that people can contribute but being of conservative bent I would not want to reach conclusions unless we have enough source data to really bottom out the issues. With Japanese marks that will be difficult given the lack (so far) of source data.

:cheers:

[Guest Rick Research]

Red Cross Medal for ordinary member, in silver-- "#"

[Dieter3]

I'm guessing that is kanji " 井 " (I), though I'd imagine other pronunciations could apply. Or maybe it really is just # ?

[SWE Erik]

Rising Sun 6th cl before 1940

Sacred Treasure 8th cl WW1 period

[SWE Erik]

Red Cross medal WW1 period

[Gunjinantiques]

Rising Sun 6th cl before 1940

Sacred Treasure 8th cl WW1 period

Nice, never seen one with the 大 mark on it before.

[Paul L Murphy]

Nice, never seen one with the 大 mark on it before.

I have had a number of them. They turn up in Kansai flea markets a lot with this particular maker mark so that could indicate a manufacturer in that area.

[Gunjinantiques]

Here's a 6th class rising sun with a "CF" on the back of the knob. Anyone have a clue? "Chicken Fart" maybe? :speechless:

[Tim B]

Well that's a first for me John and I see I'll have to recheck mine for marks at this location. One of my fourth class is marked on the arms between the Paulina leaves and the star, so I assumed all the 6th class and higher RS were marked in the same location.

The medal you show also brings up another question for me. Notice how large the suspension ring is on your medal; I have one 5th class that has this larger diameter ring as well and I wonder why these are this way as most have a smaller ring that holds the medal closer to the ribbon. The larger ring allows the medal to hang down quite a bit and isn't as eye appealing to me, but wonder if it was designed for a reason that way?

Tim

[Gunjinantiques]

Well that's a first for me John and I see I'll have to recheck mine for marks at this location. One of my fourth class is marked on the arms between the Paulina leaves and the star, so I assumed all the 6th class and higher RS were marked in the same location.

The medal you show also brings up another question for me. Notice how large the suspension ring is on your medal; I have one 5th class that has this larger diameter ring as well and I wonder why these are this way as most have a smaller ring that holds the medal closer to the ribbon. The larger ring allows the medal to hang down quite a bit and isn't as eye appealing to me, but wonder if it was designed for a reason that way?

Tim

Hi Tim

The older ones probably have the smaller ring. I didn't even notice the CF until I photographed it. Had to wipe some of the patina away to tell what it was. I imagine a lot of these go through people's hands and they never even see the markings. I hope this topic can work as a data base.

John

[Tim B]

Well, I finally checked out my other awards and interestingly enough, the 5th class RS with the larger suspension ring also was marked in the same location! In my case, the letters are "JL".

I can't see where "CF" and "JL" would be a designation for the same manufacturer, but if the larger rings can be linked to a specific timeline and we check other medals with these larger rings, maybe we can deduct some possible makers from there? I have seen other Rising Suns (in different award levels) for sale with these larger rings and most have had the silver lettering on the case, as does my 5th class award. Not sure if those examples are 100% original sets or if, in this case, John's 6th class medal was originally in this case shown with the gold lettering.

Does anybody else have Rising Sun medals with the larger size suspension ring, and are they marked in similar fashion?

Tim

[Dieter3]

Also posted this pic. in the "Showa Medal" thread: