China Who Was Harry Mohler?

[Richard LaTondre]

"From Yash's Library"

Earlier this year while putting together notes etc. for a forth-coming project, I searched in vain for a biographical sketch of Harry Mohler, the former many time president of OMSA and also the donor of the Harry A. Mohler Collection of Chinese and Thai Medals at the Hoover Institute, Stanford University. There was no information to be found.

In going through some of Yash's papers I found the following Bio which also explains the relationship of J. M. Watson, Tsiaoling (Charge de' Affairs) C. L. Song, and Mr. Mohler. It appears that the majority of the medals contained in the Mohler Collection were obtained through Mr. Watson and C. L. Song. What is of extreme interest to Chinese medal collectors, is the fact that Mr. Watson wrote a single copy of a book entitled "Chinese Medals And Decorations". This book was never published to my knowlege. I believe I have found a copy of the only existing volume. If anyone has any information about this book or other copies please let me know.

THE HARRY A. MOHLER COLLECTION

The Harry A. Mohler Collection of Chinese orders and medals was donated to the Hoover Institution in 1977. It is housed in the Archives where it is available for study and research. While primarily Chinese, the collection includes a relatively comprehensive listing of the principle orders and medals of Thailand. This collection was accumulated over a period of nearly forty years, it contains over two hundred medals issued by Chinese presidents and warlords between 1911 and 1928, thirty-one rare sets of Imperial Chinese orders and decorations, as well as some ninety-three Thai orders and medals.

Harry Mohler was a long time resident of Sausalito, California. He was an early member of the Orders and Medal Society of America (OMSA), serving on the Board of Directors for a number of years and as a President from 1953-1955. Harry hosted the 1972 OMSA Convention in San Francisco and authored numerous articles in the Society journal, The Medal Collector. He was awarded an Honorary Membership for his many contributions to the Society.

The Chinese collection covers the period 1860-1928. It’s strength emerges from the historically significant Republic Orders attributed to Yuan Shi-Kai (袁世凱), the firstpresident of the Republic and from the sheer numbers of medals from the Warlord era.

Prior to his death in 1978, Mohler prepared a listing of medals to be given to the Hoover Institution. The listing is composed of background information on some awards, brief biographical sketches on several Warlords and a description with illustrated photocopies of most of the medals. The latter uses a single page for each medal format.

Many of the individual pieces in the Mohler collection were acquired from J.M. Watson, a police inspector in Shanghai and an early collector of Chinese medals. Watson compiled and bound a single copy of a book, Chinese Medals and Decorations. An interesting feature of the Watson book is a narrative by a Chinese diplomat through whom Watson made many of his important acquisitions. In addition to the Watson collection, Mohler acquired medals from his many friends and collecting associates, as well as from the British auction houses of Baldwin’s, Spink, Sotheby’s and Christie’s. He was a fixture for years on the floor of the Bourse at the annual OMSA conventions.

[Ulsterman]

Man-would I LOVE to see the book published with the Mohler medals used as illustrations as an OMSa monograph.

Heck, I'd underwrite that endeavor myself!

[Richard LaTondre]

Man-would I LOVE to see the book published with the Mohler medals used as illustrations as an OMSa monograph.

Heck, I'd underwrite that endeavor myself!

So would I. The book is pretty much completed. All I need to do is convince OMSA to print it.