Japanese Red Cross Special Membership Medal w/Box Rosette WWII 日本赤十字社特別社員章

Description

Relisted due to non-paying winner.
The
Red Cross Awards were established on June 21, 1888, with Emperor’s permission, and could be worn on all occasions on the national uniform.
There are Regular medals, Special Membership Medal (As is this one), and Life Membership Medal. There are also Red Cross Order of Merit, regular and Gold. They were originally made of silver, but in 1940 or so they are made of aluminum (as is this one). Regular, Special and Life medals are the same, but latter two have added rosettes on the ribbon.
Date: 1930s to early 1940s (pre 1942 or so- subsequent medals were made of aluminum, not silver. Pre WWII Red Cross Special Membership Medals came in lacquer boxes [such as this one], during the war in cardboard and paper boxes, and post-WWII in paulownia boxes.
Box: paulownia, gold gilt letters: Special Membership Medal (
Nippon sekishūjishashō
Tokubetsusahinshō
日本赤十字社
特別社員章
)
Silver Medal.
Condition: Medal: abrasions, minor scratches and oxidation. Ribbon with minor soiling, rosette with fading. Minor abrasions and scratches on the box, residue on the bottom, letters tarnished and with loss of gold. Lapel rosette minor discoloration.
Reference: James W. Peterson: Orders and Medals of Japan and Associated States (Third Edition), Duluth: The Orders and Medals Society of America, 2000, p. 75-79.
Paul L. Murphy & Steven L. Ackley: In the Name of a Living God: The non-government badges and medals of Imperial Japan, including Police, Fire Brigade, Fred Cross, Veteran and Patriotic Groups, Portland: Ackley Unlimited, 2005., p. 84-86.
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