Japanese Fireman badges

[Markus]

Hello Gents,

I have always been intrigued with the look of Japanese Fireman badges with their great looking designs and enamel work. So I purchased this collection from a Japanese dealer in one purchase. It is hard to judge the quality of these items in photos so I was pleased upon having them before me in person and I was not disappointed. The quality of the cloisonné work is amazing. The style of enamel patterns remind me of some of the early Republican and Warlord Chinese medals. They are quite petite, only 1.5 to 1.75 inches across.

Markus

[Markus]

2nd half of collection.

[Brian Wolfe]

Hello Markus,

I can see why you have added these to your collection, very beautiful indeed.

The range of these badges is quite large, as you probably now, and well worth collecting, in my opinion.

Thank you for posting them. I hope you can add more to your collection and this post as time goes by.

Regards

Brian

[drclaw]

Beautiful Markus! I've been hanging out to see these having been tempted many a time on YJA. Each of these could well stand up as individual orders in their own right.

I can certainly see the similarity to the Chinese Warlord / Early Republican medals.

Is there much by way of reference materials in English on Japanese fireman badges? It'll be fascinating to discover which regions they were from, and if any of the designs have changed over time.

Gavin

[Paul L Murphy]

Beautiful Markus! I've been hanging out to see these having been tempted many a time on YJA. Each of these could well stand up as individual orders in their own right.

I can certainly see the similarity to the Chinese Warlord / Early Republican medals.

Is there much by way of reference materials in English on Japanese fireman badges? It'll be fascinating to discover which regions they were from, and if any of the designs have changed over time.

Gavin

There is a chapter in my book In the Name of a Living God on fireman's badges. I have identified a cross section of 171 different badges. The ones shown above are all recent, ie from the 1980s or later. If anyone is interested in buying a copy of the book then please send me a PM.

:cheers:

[Dieter3]

Lovely Markus!!

[kapten_windu]

Beautiful, great looking badges!!

can you tell us the name of each badge?

[Markus]

Hi Kapten Windu,

I'm clueless as to which Fire station districts owned these badges. Perhaps I will be able to tell you more after reading Paul's book that I am going to order.

Best Regards,

Markus

Beautiful, great looking badges!!

can you tell us the name of each badge?

[Dieter3]

Markus - show a picture of the reverses and maybe somebody here will be able to provide more info from the writing (assuming there is some!)

Edited April 21, 2011 by Dieter3

[Markus]

Hi Dieter,

Thanks for the suggestion, I will post a few backs. Hope they are legible.

Markus - show a picture of the reverses and maybe somebody here will be able to provide more info from the writing (assuming there is some!)

[Markus]

#2 badge

[Markus]

Badge #3

[Markus]

#4 badge

[hzenba2012]

Hello! Very, excellent collection you have! I also want to know which prefecture it came from. Don't take me wrong, I do own few badges from fire department. But, or rather it is still kind of hidden... To make stories short, I bought a couple of fire dept badges from an antique shop. It really looked elegant and fine. Few months later, I was invited to a Fire Dept Drill Show? and there I realized people? are still wearing them. Fine! But not antiques... So I just kept them in a safe place and kept cool, silent. It's great looking and expecting you will find out where it is from, athough it may read like some contest awards written on the reverse.