Japanese fake / reproduction medals

[Kvart]

Dear fellow collectors

I'm new into Japanese medals. I'm just wondering, how big is the problem with fakes and reproductions?

Is there any litterature that deals with this? I've got Peterson's book, it's no doubt a good book. But it does not give so much about fakes.

Another thing, The Great East Asia War medal shows up often on Ebay and sells for about $100-150. Is this actual the real medal? Only 10 000 medals and it sells weekly on Ebay? Is this a fake?

Thanks for you answers.

Regards
Kvart

[Bob Chatt]

All the Great East Asia War Medals are commeratives that sell on Ebay. You can still buy them today at the Ysakuni Shrine museum gift shop.

[AndrewK]

Fakes are not really a serious problem for Japanese awards (one of the big reasons I'm more into this than TR). There are some medals that are reproduced, like the WWI Victory Medal, but the differenced between these and originals is big enough to make identification pretty easy. Most medals are not severely faked though. In all likelihood, if you see a Japanese award for sale it is as described.

However, the orders (Sacred Treasure, etc.) are still in production today, so it would do you well to research here for a while about find out how to date them (there are numerous threads with various facts to help in this).

Regarding the Great East Asia War medals on Ebay, they are all modern. It's really the only case I can think of where there is a serious amount of reproductions out there. From what I hear they're sold at temples for a far lower sum than they go for on Ebay.