Japanese collar tabs

[RollyD]

Aviation cadet collar tab. Sewn on.
Rolly
P.S. Anyone else notice that Ebay doesnt have squat for Japanese cloth aviation insignia? Not sure if I can make the SOS, but I wonder if they will have something?

[Eric Doody]

Here is a photo of some Type 44/Type 5 Army enlisted men shoulder rank insignia...

[Eric Doody]

Here is a photo of some Type 44/Type 5 Army officer shoulder rank insignia...

[Eric Doody]

Here is a photo of some Type 98 Army enlisted men collar rank insignia...

[Eric Doody]

Here is a photo of some late Type 98/early Type 3 (left side of the photo) and late Type 3 (right side of the photo) Army enlisted men collar rank insignia...

[Eric Doody]

Finally, here is a photo of some Type 98 (left side of the photo) and Type 3 (right side of the photo) Army officer collar rank insignia...

Note the pair of lieutenant colonel Type 3 insignia are each missing one star!

[RodneyO]

Mahalo Eric (and everyone else for your help) for posting all those Army collar rank insignias and the explanation on which way the 5-pointed star Army collar tabs should face on the collar. I have seen EM and Officer’s collar tabs having one rank tab with 2-points of the star sewn upwards well the other tab has 1-point of the star sewn upward towards the face on their tunic. Should uniforms with collar tabs sewn on like this be considered post war applied? Were Army collar tabs sewn on directly to the collars without the wool cloth backing on the collar tabs? How can one determine if the wool cloth backing are original to the rank tabs and what color thread did the Japanese use to sew them on to the wool cloth backings? I’ve seen both white and red thread used to sew them on with.
Hau`oli Makahiki Hou!
Rodney

[Eric Doody]

Rodney,

Aloha!

I offer the following...

Question 1) Should uniforms with collar tabs sewn with one rank tab with 2-points of the star sewn upwards and the other tab with 1-point of the star sewn upwards be considered post war applied?

Answer 1) Although I won't say this never happened, I would err on the side of the insignia being post war applied.

Question 2) Were Army collar tabs sewn on directly to the collars without the wool cloth backing on the collar tabs?

Answer 2) I will assume you are referring to the late Type 98/early Type 3 and late Type 3 insignia when you ask this question. (The late Type 98/early Type 3 and late Type 3 bevo insignia were typically sewn onto a rectangular wool or felt backing.) If so, then I am of the opinion that no, bevo collar tabs were not typically sewn directly onto the collars. (I believe you might be referring to the unfinished bevo collar tabs that were never sewn onto the wool or felt backing that you typically see every now and again.)

Question 3) How can one determine if the wool cloth backing are original to the rank tabs and what color thread did the Japanese use to sew them on to the wool cloth backings?

Answer 3) I do not believe anyone is reproducing the late Type 98/early Type 3 or late Type bevo rank insignia. As for how the bevo insignia should be sewn onto the rectangular wool or felt backing...those late Type 98/early Type 3 or late Type 3 insignia that I posted the photos of were all sewn on using red thread. I have observed various shades of wool or felt backings from dark green to light brown or tan.

Finally, and this is my disclaimer, what I have written above is what I have observed over the years and what I would expect to typically see and/or encounter. However, there are always, I repeat ALWAYS, exceptions to the rules so do not rule something out just because it is odd or atypical. Look the whole piece over first before making a decision on whether a piece is good or bad.

Hope this helps, and if I get the chance, I will try to post some photos of some atypical insignia that I have in my collection.

Eric

[Eric Doody]

I found this photo that I had taken some time ago of a couple odd Army collar insignia that I have in my collection. (Sorry for the poor quality of the photo, but the photo was taken some time ago through the glass of the glass-mount and then the photo was enlarged to "capture" the two odd insignia.)

The insignia at the top are of a (right and left collar) pair of Army private first class collar rank insignia. What is interesting about this pair of insignia is that the insignia originally started out as a pair of late Type 98/early Type 3 private second class insignia that had another star added to each insignia at some point in time. Originally, the late Type 98/early Type 3 private second class insignia had a single star that was centered on each of the insignia and then a second star was added "in-board" to each insignia using yellow thread. The yellow thread of the second star goes through the red bevo insignia and then the green rectangular wool backing which has been trimmed to roughly the same shape of as the bevo insignia. I am of the opinion that this modification to the insignia was wartime done and not added post-war. (Who would go through all this trouble adding a second star to each insignia unless you were the soldier that received the promotion from private second class to private first class?)

The insignia on the bottom are a pair of Army sergeant-major collar rank insignia. What is interesting about this pair of insignia is that the insignia originally started out as a pair of late Type 98/early Type 3 or late Type 3 lance corporal insignia that later had Army NCO or Army officer Type 98 insignia stars added to the insignia. Although I can not rule out the possibility that the stars may have been added to the insignia post-war, I believe that the stars were added during wartime as I can not image why someone would go through all the trouble of adding stars to a pair of enlisted men insignia after the war.

Eric