Japanese Victory Medals

[Tim B]

As we start out, we can use this thread for Japanese Victory Medals, cases, award documents, variations in medals/ribbons, etc.

Tim

Japanese (cased):

Edited February 23, 2013 by IrishGunner

[RobW]

To all,

These pics have also been posted at the specific thread on the Japanese vic but are included here as well for completeness as this thread seems to be receiving all the attention.

For a direct L-R side by side comparison here are a French made repro and a Japanese vic official. The first of the French made repro's were produced in the mid to late 1920's and were not all edge marked. Some have been seen with just BRONZE on the edge with others unmarked. Those produced in the 1930's have the edge marking 'MADE IN FRANCE' to comply with the US Tariff Law of 1931, which required marking with the country of origin.

There is, in addition, to the standard repro, a cast copy of the French repro as well. It has an even shallower field of detail, is suspended by a ball suspender and has the same French made ribbon.

Regards,

Rob

[RobW]

And the reverses.

Note the differences in detail of the flags and the slight differences and weight of the japanese inscriptions around the edge. In addition there are a number of instances where different characters are used, in particular at the bottom centre 6 o'clock position on the rim inscription.

Hope these pics help comparisons.

Regards,

Rob

[Tim B]

Nice thing about the Japanese pieces; they can still be found in great shape and often cased!

Tim

[Tim B]

I am always surprised to see singles sell for about the same prices as the cased ones.

Edited February 23, 2013 by IrishGunner

[johnnymac]

I am changing subject for moment. I believe there is a Japanese Vic repro on ebay which someone filed the ball suspension down to make it look like a barrel shape suspension. It has a cut off repro ribbon, and if you do a zoom in on the reverse you too might notice it. I am sure the dealer has not seen it or he would have mentioned it. Auction off ending in 5 days. Today is May 23. Check it out by typing in "victory medal", "worldwide" and let me know what you think?
JM

Edited February 18, 2013 by IrishGunner

[RobW]

Hi to all,

I believe there is a Japanese Vic repro on ebay which someone filed the ball suspension down to make it look like a barrel shape suspension. It has a cut off repro ribbon, and if you do a zoom in on the reverse you too might notice it. I am sure the dealer has not seen it or he would have mentioned it.

JM

Hello JM,

The Japanese vic repro you are referring to is actually not a repro type 1 as identified in Alex Laslo's book. You are correct in identifying that the repro type 1 is mounted on a ball suspender, and was produced in France in the 1920-1930s period, but the example in this particular auction is not one of those.

The repro in the mentioned auction is a more recent reproduction based on the dies that were also used for the much earlier French repro, hence the similarities. It was produced in the UK, most likely around the Birmingham area [which is where a lot of the more recent repro's are coming from] and was produced with a barrel suspender. These examples are made in a different base metal to the 1920s French variety and have a slightly thicker planchet. In addition they will have, as you have identified, the unblended thicker weave vic ribbon that is also produced in the UK.

When I have time I shall post some comparison pics of this more modern repro.

Regards,

Rob

Edited May 24, 2010 by RobW

[RobW]

To all,

As mentioned here is the modern repro of the Japanese vic.

Close-ups to follow.

Regards,

Rob

[RobW]

And the close-ups.

That's me done for a while.

Regards,

Rob

[Herman]

Japan

A type 1 complete with hook and eye at the backside of the ribbon.

[Bilco]

In case this hasn't been seen - the Japanese victory medal with detailed translation of the award certificate.

http://www.imperialj...es.com/ww1.html

Bill

[johnnymac]

In case this hasn't been seen - the Japanese victory medal with detailed translation of the award certificate.

http://www.imperialj...es.com/ww1.html

Bill

Hello Bill, That was a nice site thanks for posting

Jim

[Bilco]

Just to show that I'm not totally fixated on those Italian vics! My latest acquisition - bought on e-bay - is this Japanese vic.

Obverse

Reverse

Enlargement of reverse.

It seems to compare very well with the examples on the original Inter-allied Victory Medals of the Great War thread, and the postings in the section on Japanese medals -

http://gmic.co.uk/in...al/page__st__20 particularly posts 27 and 33.

The subtlty of the die work is very good - in the flag at 12 o'clock on the reverse, inside the rectangular symbol, there is a disc shown by very fine hatching, with the horizintal part of the symbol overlaid, which is very clear under the magnifying glass. The ribbon is rather faded on the obverse side, but better on the reverse, which is complete with the hook and eye. Diameter is 36.5mm and thickness 2.5mm.

I welcome any comments.

Bill

[Tim B]

Hi Bill,

Nice vic! No issues here, everything is correct, congrats!

Tim

[Tim B]

Bill,

Forgot exactly where I copied this PIC from, I think eBay sometime back, but thought you might find it interesting.

Tim

[Bilco]

Hi Tim - Thanks for the positive comment - and the translation of the symbols on the reverse. Very useful!

Bill

[RobW]

The subtlty of the die work is very good - in the flag at 12 o'clock on the reverse, inside the rectangular symbol, there is a disc shown by very fine hatching, with the horizintal part of the symbol overlaid, which is very clear under the magnifying glass. The ribbon is rather faded on the obverse side, but better on the reverse, which is complete with the hook and eye. Diameter is 36.5mm and thickness 2.5mm.

I welcome any comments.

Bill

Hello Bill,

This disc is actually the central circle representative of the Japanese flag. If you take a close inspection of all the flags on the reverse they will have very fine details and hatching that if viewed with a glass with be illustrative of the flag of the relevant country. The characters overlaid on the flags are merely the Japanese script for the specific country.

The close up of the reverse on post #4 shows this level of background hatching and flag detail.

This is a very good example of the level of detail in these medals. Most look at the reverse but don't actually see the level of detail that is there. This level of hatching and detail is not present in the French reproductions.

Regards,

Rob

Edited June 25, 2011 by RobW

[lambert]

I believe that today there is a surplus of Japanese Victory Medal considerable. can still find reasonable prices. I'm a little confused, compared with other Japanese VMs have a lighter weight.

Lambert

[lambert]

This is my example, very well maintained Campaign Medal 1915-20 Victory Medal and Japanese.

very cool.

[Tim B]

Hi Lambert,

Oh, very nice! Are these two actually mounted together or only shown that way? IF mounted, can we see a reverse shot?

Yes, there seems to be an abundance of Japanese Vic's still available on the market and for some strange reason, they always command prices close to US $100.00 and I don't understand it.

Tim

[lambert]

Hi Tim,

No, I'm just pointing this way, each one has its original box. I paid $ 100.00 in Vic. I found a great price, because they always come to $ 150.00 or more! .

More photos!

:cheers:

[Tim B]

Yes, both excellent examples. I really need to sit down and re-photograph all my Japanese awards, as the lighting is just not that great in my current PIC's. Some of these are rather hard to get just right.

Thanks for sharing!

Tim

[johnnymac]

To All,

The bottom medal is an official Japanese issue. So, is the top medal a re-issued medal or is it just a very good reproduction? What is noticeable at first is the color differences between the two medals. This may be explained away by the use of different cameras. The top example was sent to me by a friend and I noted that there is a slight bruising of the metal on the left side of the face on the top figure in the nose area. But upon a closer look, you do find other slight differences, which are the hair shape, the mustache, the chin, the width and shape of the mouth, the necklace, the dropped right shoulder and the different shaped thumb (top figure's thumb bends up the other figure's thumb bends down).

[johnnymac]

on reverse I also looked a little closer to see if I could find more. On my second illustration I superimposed and did a 50% transparence. As you can see the two medals are on top each other and you can also see by looking at the red ring that they are centered. The left side matches up but the right side does not (note right side looks like a little blurred or out of alignment). Adding this that the ring suspension are two different lengths.

[johnnymac]

Last, note this photo and the 5 red circles. They show that the tips are round on the medal in question on the left. Whereas the other medal's tips are more square.

I feel that these two medals are official but the ones is as I said in the opening is a re-issue.

Any thoughts, Jim M.