Order of the Sacred Treasure - 5th. Class

[jshorter]

Hello Everyone,

I was skimming through E-Bay this morning, and came across this auction for a 5th. class Order of the Sacred Treasure

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=300115500921

What caught my eye, besides having a rosette for an 8th class Order, was there are no rivets on the reverse! Now, is this a reproduction or a newer issue where they are no longer manufactured with rivets?

I am very curious to hear your opinions!

Thanks,
Jason

[Laurence Strong]

If I am not mistaken, the script on the lid of the case is Showa era, and the medal Showa.

Hope this helps

[Laurence Strong]

First time I have seen this seller. All of his cased items are Showa

[jshorter]

Hi Laurence,

I am not at all familiar with the different styles of writing and to what period they belong, so I will have to go by what you say.

All of the higher classes of the Orders of the Sacred Treasure I have seen have the 4 rivets on the reverse holding the 2 pieces of the medal together. This is the first one I have seen that doesn't have the rivets. Did the late Showa period awards not have rivets? If so, I haven't read anywhere about that.

Other than that, the piece looks authentic to me.

Jason

[jshorter]

Hum....

I found a 6th. class Order on E-Medals website that also does not have the rivets....

http://www.emedals.ca/catalog.asp?item=J99

The case is very similar in writing style as the E-Bay award, but the medal looks like it is a pretty recent issue.

Jason

[Laurence Strong]

Hi Jason

Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I will show you how to date the lids. As I can not read Japanese, I have to use a little more info shown to me by P L Murphy


A Meiji 8th class (left) and a Showa 6th class (right) Sacred Treasure case lids


Notice the first letter on the box, You will see the Meiji period lid has a very curvasive first character, whereas the character on the Showa lid is very square and "blocked" in appearence. This character is the Japanese character which indicates that the number coming after it is an ordinal, ie. 1st, 2nd etc.

The second character on the lid is the class of the award. The remaining characters are the name of the award.

And from what I know no rivets is Showa. Since they changed the design of the Sacred Treasure in 2003, adding a Pawlonia leaf between the ribbon and planchet, these types with no rivets are actually underrated and comparatively scarce.

from the looks of the lids I need to dust my room

[Laurence Strong]

Here are the backs of my 4th to 6th class, both Showa of different ages by the looks of them, and a Meiji 4th class.

[jshorter]

Thanks!

Hi Laurence,

Thank you again for the great information!! I have seen the differences in writing style on the cases, but had assumed that a lot of the variation was due to different manufacturers of the cases. I wasn't aware there was a transformation of writing style between the two periods.

Thanks again!!
Jason

[jshorter]

Laurence,

Are there any books out there that someone can use as a "crash course" for reading Kanji? I would love to be able to read more Japanese than the few symbols I have picked up on my own.

Jason

[Laurence Strong]

Thats a question you would have to ask Paul or Eric. I have tried to decipher some of the words but I end up with a "blonde look" on my face and a massive headache Wait till you get into the award docs.......

[jshorter]

I totally understand about the writing!!

I have been doing a little more searching, and the non-riveted forms are more common than I thought! Here is a 3rd. class one without them.

http://www.emedals.ca/catalog.asp?item=J84

I guess it must be the manufacturing style of one of the later Showa period firms....?

I just looked at my 5th. class Order again, and it has the cursive-style of writing on the box, 4 rivets on the reverse, and the "M" mint mark for the Osaka mint.

Jason

[AndrewK]

Be careful in labeling things "Meiji Era" or "Showa Era" based on the kanji. While an order may very well date from a Meiji Period conflict, such as the Russo-Japanese War, it is important to remember that the largest war until WWII (that is, WWI) actually took place during the Taisho Period. If I am not mistaken, throughout the Taisho Period (1912-1926) the Meiji style of writing continued to be used. I believe many Taisho orders have been mislabeled as Meiji Era.

[Laurence Strong]

Well the Sacred Treasure and the Order of the Rising Sun are still current Japanese awards.

I would be interested in getting one of the new Sacred Treasure.

Here is what is the equivelant of the old 5th class. It all changed in 2003 and they dropped the 8th and 7th class

it's called "The Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold and Silver Rays"

[plmurphy]

The Sacred Treasures without the rivets on the back are late Showa and early Heisei pieces. I do not have an exact date from when they changed but believe it was in the 1980s. The new style Sacred Treasure came into use from 2003 when they revamped the honours system in Japan (and made a complete hash of it in my view). I have not yet seen any of them come up for sale.