Featured Antique Chinese Rank Badge?

And what was thought to be a keris hilt...

 

This article is a good introduction to rank badges.
http://journalofantiques.com/features/chinese-rank-badges/

 

"The western collectors in old China not only framed the beautiful badges and hung them on walls, thus preserving them for future generations, but made evening purses of them." And all I do is search purses for loose change! Now I have to look at them critically too? ('Funny story', at a hockey fan appreciation day we met the ex-coach of the Washington Capitals, a quite husky man, and the first thing he said to my wife was "Nice purse." Now I realize he was just an antiquer on skates.)

http://journalofantiques.com/features/chinese-rank-badges/attachment/f4-7th/#main the facsimile (actually the original) version

Thx, @moreotherstuff et al. Love the thread on "now I have to get one" too. So true.

 

About five minutes after I wrote the above, I wasn't so sure. So I went off and did some looking, found a reference, decided I was wrong, and wrote @KikoBlueEyes privately -- I didn't want to cause an auction stir when I still wasn't sure.

Now that the auction is over, I'll say that I think there is couching... I think it's mostly couching. But it's much finer than what I've seen before and caused a sort of "moire" pattern in the not-so-great auction pics.

Below is the auction piece with an inset of the reference piece (from the Met Museum) which shows a similarity in the pattern.




But because the reference piece is from the Met, the picture is much higher quality and I zoom in and see:



What was causing the unrecognized pattern was couching stitches of a contrasting color (and mediocre photography).

Or so I think. Don't know for certain, but I wanted to update here, because that's just the kind of obsessive person I am.

And here's the full Met piece:
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/44243



Yes yes, as I read back over this post, it does sound like gibberish.

 

I can't add anything useful really. I did drag home a ratty rank badge some years ago without knowing what it was. A bit of research led me to it being Korean so something to keep in mind I guess, they aren't all Chinese.

 

A very good point!

 

Late Qing fifth rank silver pheasant

 

Late Qing fifth rank silver pheasant

 

Late Qing fifth rank silver pheasant

 

Arriving very late to this thread -- Thank you, @moreotherstuff ! The article is very informative.