Order of the Sacred Treasure

[Dieter3]

New arrival in nice shape. Ribbon has a bit of light soil in places, but not bad. I was impressed with the condition of the gold plating, hence the purchase. I'm guessing this is a later Meiji or early Taisho (?) :

[Dieter3]

[hc8604]

Looks in great condition! The gold really stands out.

[Dieter3]

It does - it really caught my eye in the auction pics. and it met my expectations!

[drclaw]

Lovely item Dieter!

I'm looking at this particular one and had a question on dating. How do you tell - other than overall wearing of the case and tarnishing on the metal - if a 7th class is a pre-1945 or a later issue?

For instance, I can tell the 5th and 6th classes are pre-1945 because of the four rivets on the reverse. Are there any similar indicators for dating a 7th and 8th class?

Gavin

[Dieter3]

Hi Gavin,

The cases can tell you a lot about the age (well, of at least the case!) - the style of the kanji for one, the use of gold vs. silver writing (silver being associated with the WWII time frame, late 30's on), the 7th and 8th may be found in plastic cases without a clasp mechanism too, all post-war. The mirror in the center tends to be larger on earlier awards too. Of course the lapel rosettes are indicative of age as well, bow vs. button, and there are obvious differences in the buttons too that seem to correlate with when a piece was produced. I wouldn't use wear, tarnishing, or soiling as an indicator, maybe a crude guideline!

[drclaw]

Thanks Dieter, that's very helpful.

I did notice differences in clasp of the case, and of the rosette, but always good to have the full picture by an expert.

Short of taking photos to my favourite sushi take-away, it might be time to enrol in a Japanese class.

[Dieter3]

Oh, I'm far from an expert!! There are several people here that have waaaaay more experience than I do, not to mention they've handled huge numbers of these pieces. Comparatively, I have very few awards and far less handling experience. What I do though is watch auctions very carefully, examine the pictures and catalog them, and then compare them, noting the differences and trends in construction and design in an attempt to build a larger overall historical picture. It's tough, but it makes collecting all the more enjoyable! ;)