Can anybody help me to identify this medal? It looks Japanese to me, but I guess that it could easily be Korean or Chinese. Sadly, I have very little experience in this particular field, so I would appreciate some input from fellow forum members. Thanks in advance!
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Cased Mystery Medal - unknown to me - help, please ! !
The exterior of the box that it came in... -
I think it's Manchurian [Manchukuo]. Note the stars on your medal and compare with this one:
Source
--GuyComment
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金色棠陰章
I still can't find it on Google! The kanji are: 金色棠陰章 which mean
Order of the Golden Apple Shadow or Order of the Shadow of the Golden Apple.
If you look at your Order, you'll see the golden apple, and the blue shadow cast by the tree.
金- gold
色- color
棠- "crab apple" or "chinese flowering apple"
陰 - shadow
章- Order
Regards,
--GuyComment
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Better Close-Up
Thank you, GHP, for the valuable input! Much appreciated.
The "evidence" of a Manchurian connection is interesting and quite convincing.
I am attaching a better close-up of the reverse of the medal. Thanks to GHP's translations, I can identify the the three characters in the top cartouche. However, I still cannot determine what characters are in the lower, square-shaped box. Any guesses? (If better photography is needed, I would be happy to oblige...)
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Greg,
Sorry, seal-script is difficult for me. I can make out parts of characters ... but not entire ones. The seal has three lines, right to left, top to bottom:
Top
3 ----2--- 1
局 印 政
新 O O
O O O
I can identify the following:
政Government
印 Seal
局 Bureau
新 New [i'm not sure about the left radical, but think this is correct.
Good luck with the rest!
--Guy
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Just a Passing Thought
Greg,
Based on the clearer photo of the reverse, it appears the Order name is "Crab Apple Shadow Order" -- or whatever fruit it is. (It's not really "apple", and not a pear 梨)
棠陰章
And as yours is in "Gold"... perhaps there were lesser grades of Bronze and Silver.
--GuyComment
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My guess: This is not an official order, but a local award. I cannot find the medal in my Chinese Order book, but I guess it could have been overlooked. As Guy mentioned, 'gold color' probably indicates a class. 棠陰 has a literal meaning, as mentioned above, but it is also a place name of a town located in Yihaung County, Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province. I think that 棠陰 is read Táng yīn in Chinese, but my knowledge of that language is minimal at best.
Again, this is only a guess, as I really don't know.
Cheers, RichComment
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Hi Rich,
Thanks for your valued opinion -- I really enjoy your website and have learned much from it.
I wonder that if this particular medal is a local one, a lot of effort went into its production. The center-piece looks enameled to me (judging from the supplied photos), and the presentation box is nicely done, as well.
Interesting that the calligraphy on the box lid is not in seal script as we see in Japanese/Manchukuo medals of the period. And also interesting that the ribbon fastening device is also in the Japanese style.
The ribbon colors seem (from an unschooled pair of eyes) to be consistant with Manchukuo colors.
Quite a puzzle that's been dropped in our laps.
Best regards,
--GuyComment
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Good point about the manufacturing quality. So I will give another wild swing:
There is an old Chinese anthology called 棠陰比事 (Táng yīn bǐ shì) that includes various stories about the justice system. This was very popular over the centuries. Perhaps the first two kanji acquired an ancillary meaning of 'justice system' and thus used by the Administration of Justice to name their awards?
(Wow, that idea was a stretch. Feel free to disregard it.)
Awaiting the Chinese medal experts to give us the real answer...Comment
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I just had a "Homer Moment"! I'm going through a resource by Richard Catalano ....Imperial Japan Medals and Badges, Book #2 .... when it struck me! You're this Richard, aren't you?
D'OH!
Anyway, looking on p.15 I just saw to my astonishment ... some of the same kanji on the "Local Administration Merit Badge" ... sei kou rou.
The front of the badge has the seal script which LOOKS like the enlarged image in post #5.
So, I think the seal reads:
3 ----2--- 1
局 印 政
新 O 功
O O 勞
勞 archaic form of the modern 労
功労 = kourou: Meritorious Deeds/Services
Regards,
--Guy
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Additional Input
Another forum member chimed in by direct PM instead of posting to this thread. I found his comments interesting, so I would like to share them here:
"...it is Chinese and it is not Manchukuo. The Manchukuo stars have the yellow pointing to the top. The Beiyang period (1910s-1920s) has the red pointing up.
Imperialjapan is right saying it is a local award and maybe even civilian too. To identify it might be impossible since, probably even thousands of variations of local (city, province, temples, mayors to warlords) awards were made. Some lost to history for lack of documents or destruction of these medals over nearly 30 years of continuous warfare."
I'm still working to obtain a good, clear close-up of the characters in the lower box. Stay tuned!
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That Little Box...
Well, I was finally able to get access to the medal and to photograph it once again. After many attempts
here are my two best photos of the characters in the lower, square-shaped box on the reverse side...
Last edited by GREG E.; 01-13-2013, 07:39 PM.Comment
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Hi Greg,
I think this piece has nothing to do with Japan or Manchukuo.
This is 100% Chinese award in 100% Chinese box.
Most likely both were manufactured in China somewhere between 1912 and 1928.
The square seal at reverse is quite typical for Chinese decorations from this (and later) time period. Private makers and "official mints" marked their pieces with appropriate seals. In case of your piece this square seal looks like an official mark of same clique mint "Seal Bureau ...".
Unfortunately I can't tell you what clique (or "government") was issued this order.
Interesting, that the stars between the "rays" are not Manchukuo stars (as was said earlier - Manchu star have yellow ray at the top). But they also not our usual early republic stars (Five Races Under One Union), since these have color scheme (from left to right)
Red (top ray)/Black/White/Blue/Yellow.
And stars at your order have
Red (top ray)/Yellow/Blue/White/Black.
Regards,
NickComment
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