Showa Enthronement Medal for Review

[avenger]

I'm not feeling 100% confident on this medal and was hoping to get some opinions. The cases seems okay, and definitely has the right smell. The medal is where my concerns lie.

The ribbon is crisp feeling and the planchet is shiny and very new looking. There are signs of silver tarnish rub off where the ring and hooks connect with the ribbon, so perhaps the planchet has simply been polished? Blacklight tests all look good on the ribbon and the thread that sews it together. There is a maker stamp on the planchet nub the ring runs through, which is a circle with a "Y" in it. The medal is not magnetic, and is too heavy to be aluminum.

Any thoughts on this one are appreciated!

Scott

























The weld on the ring:







Looks like a ripple in the metal here that runs in a curve along the top of the lettering on the bottom. A bit easier to see in person. Not sure if that's a concern or not, but wanted to post this just in case:

[avenger]

I found one other "Y" marked example:


Image from Dai Nippon Military Antiques

The Y is for Yamasaki Shoten. The example I found has the "Y" raised, where as on mine it is recessed. I understand these were made for a number of years, during which perhaps there were variations in the maker mark?

[avenger]

Okay, last bit of info for now. These are supposed to be silver. I ran a silver test on the medal that I found on a coin collector site, that uses ice:

The Ice Test In addition to having the highest electrical conductivity of any element, silver also has the highest thermal conductivity of any metal. If you place an ice cube on a silver coin or bar, the ice will begin to melt immediately. Obviously, ice will melt if placed on anything at room temperature, for example, but if placed on silver it will melt much more quickly and impressively. Try it!

I touched the edge of the planchet to the ice, and it started to melt through it like a saw through wood. The medal was icy cold within seconds. I'm guessing if there's anything to that test, this is a silver medal. I can't imagine a fake being made of precious medals, so perhaps this combined with it being non-magnetic is fairly conclusive evidence that it is original without acid testing?

By the way, that silver test is awesome. If you guys have anything silver you're comfortable with touching ice, give it a try. I tried using one of my wifes silver necklace chains and it just ended up freezing to the ice. So, I think it has to be a piece of silver with some mass to it or it will cool down to freezing and just stick to the ice.

[harryamb2]

very nice looking medal.

[SteveR]

A nice example sir.

[avenger]

Thanks gentlemen!

I also just heard from a dealer I know who specializes in Japanese medals and looked at my thread here, who said it was just a very clean and minty example. The recessed "Y" is also found by this maker. He also tells me he's never seen a fake Showa enthronement medal, so it seems these are one of the pretty safe options in the minefield that I hear Japanese medal collecting can be. I'm happy to have it, and am as ever thankful to the forum for allowing me to post my images and for the feedback. There didn't seem to be many of these in the forum search archives, so hopefully this will be helpful to someone in the future.