Award Document Identification

[Dieter3]

It seems this has something to do with the "building of a nation", but which award corresponds with this document? Is this for the (Manchukuo) National Foundation Merit Medal?

[RichC]

It seems this has something to do with the "building of a nation", but which award corresponds with this document? Is this for the (Manchukuo) National Foundation Merit Medal?

[RichC]

Sorry that my post above merely copied your original post. I'm not sure what I did wrong...

Anyway, your guess is correct. It is for the Manchukuo National Foundation Merit Medal, and this document was issued by the Manchukuo government. Note that Japanese citizens would also have received a permission document that allowed him/her to receive a medal from a foreign government. This permission document also named the medal that would have been awarded.

As far as I know, a Japanese citizen would have received both documents when being awarded a medal such as the one mentioned above. Am I mistaken? Or was it just the permission document?

Cheers,

Rich

[Dieter3]

Sorry that my post above merely copied your original post. I'm not sure what I did wrong...

Anyway, your guess is correct. It is for the Manchukuo National Foundation Merit Medal, and this document was issued by the Manchukuo government. Note that Japanese citizens would also have received a permission document that allowed him/her to receive a medal from a foreign government. This permission document also named the medal that would have been awarded.

As far as I know, a Japanese citizen would have received both documents when being awarded a medal such as the one mentioned above. Am I mistaken? Or was it just the permission document?

Cheers,

Rich

Thanks Rich. And now that you've pointed it out elsewhere, it looks like this one also belonged to Sukegawa! Alas, the strong folds must have contributed to the 'only' ¥15,000 price tag.

[Paul L Murphy]

As far as I know, a Japanese citizen would have received both documents when being awarded a medal such as the one mentioned above. Am I mistaken? Or was it just the permission document?

Cheers,

Rich

A Japanese citizen received both documents. Unfortunately you seldom see them together due to the nasty habit that Japanese dealers and collectors have of splitting up groups.

[RichC]

Thanks for the confirmation, Paul. You are right--one can rarely find the matching documents together, which is why I had a sliver of doubt about whether Japanese received both.

Cheers, Rich

[Dieter3]

Unfortunately you seldom see them together due to the nasty habit that Japanese dealers and collectors have of splitting up groups.

That is one thing that I'm torn on. Yes, for a dealer it makes sense to do this from a business stand point as one stands to make more money this way, but on the other hand, it is really kinda sad to see things that were originally together split up just for the sake of some extra money. BUT it does allow a greater number of individuals to have access to these pieces of history. There are several eBay items right now in this situation. I've been caught up in this myself, trying to capture as many items belonging to one individual as possible. Some things I've managed, others I haven't and it is a real disappointment when you can't keep things together. Like all of these documents above; they didn't all go to one person, but a few - so at least a few people can own a piece of Mr. Sukegawa's personal items and make that claim.

Guess this is a bit different, but it especially pisses me off when it comes to guns though - people whoreing complete, matched pieces just because they know they'll make more money that way, or because they don't want the hassle of selling a receiver/complete arm.

Oh well, that's life, that's business.

Edited August 11, 2009 by Dieter3

[Paul L Murphy]

I would view the breaking up of a group of documents in the same way that you view the breaking up of a gun. Once a document group is split it becomes practically impossible to reunite what was a discreet piece of history, and to tell the full story of the person behind the certificates. It is in some ways ok with somebody who is historically significant since their story is probably in the public domain, however if it is a group to a mid ranking officer it becomes impossible to fully piece together their career and history once items are selectively removed.

[Dieter3]

Excellent points, much more validity to the certificates from a historical aspect. The guns themselves have a much less traceable or known history for the most part, especially since records were largely destroyed. These medal certificates on the other hand by their very nature were able to survive similar destruction.

I know it would be A LOT of work - and probably not a lot of contributors, but what about the crackpot idea of maintaining a database of known certificates? The Japanese Forum on gunboards maintains a minor database for rifle bolts in the hopes of reuniting rifles with their all too often mismatched or missing bolts..... (Like I said, a LOT of work and a crackpot idea, but this was how a lot of information was garnered to produce the wonderful references available on Japanese small arms......)