British Medals | Advice For Collectors

The following sections are intended to cover briefly some of the main aspects of medal collecting.

Single Medals
If you are new to the hobby you will probably want to begin by collecting single medals to gain an example of each, whereas with groups you will often end up with many expensive duplicates. This is fine and most experienced collectors started this way. However many individual medals may have been part of a group and it is often a shame to find out that the latest medal in your collection was indeed once part of such a group with the whereabouts of the others unknown. It can be useful when out shopping for medals to take with you a notebook containing the names of the recipients of medals within your collection in case you come across a likewise named medal. Although this is a relatively rare occurrence it is not unknown for people to sell a medal to a dealer, which was once part of a group, only to return later to sell another from the same group after the dealer has already sold the first one.

Certain medals were never awarded alone and are accompanied by at least one other. An example of this includes the Egypt Medal 1882-89 which was always awarded with an appropriate Khedive's Star or the Queen's Korea Medal 1950-54 which is always seen with a corresponding UN Korean War Medal. But even if a medal is one never awarded alone it should not be discounted for purchase. The others of the group may be lost but at least it represents an example of the medal within your collection.

Medal Groups
Groups themselves are particularly interesting as they often show some of the personal history of the recipient such as where they fought and served, promotions they gained and any unit or regiment transfers. Groups are in my opinion ripe for research which is not only fun but often also increases their value. For example consider a General Service Medal with the Northern Ireland clasp and a South Atlantic Medal named to a Guardsman. As a pair they may worth say £300 but if research done on the recipient reveals he was wounded in action during the Falklands War it could raise their value to around £800 (based on 2004 market values). Groups are always worth more then the same single medals from different recipients put together so time is certainly well worth spent doing a little research. Breaking up a group is considered a 'crime' by collectors and you should ensure any groups in your possession remain intact during their time in your collection and at any point when you may decide to sell them.

It should also be noted that it is common to encounter the First World War trio (1914 or 1914-15 Star, War and Victory medals) with the War Medal missing. This is due to the fact that original recipients often found themselves forced to pawn their silver medals for money while the bronze medals had little or no value to pawnbrokers and so were not accepted. While you should not necessarily discount the bronze medals from your collection, if the regiment or recipient is of particular interest, it should be advised that a complete group would be a better investment. This of course would apply less to rare medals.

If you have a medal or group of medals and you know one or more medals are missing from the group then tracing the lost awards can seem almost impossible. However why not try the following web site which has managed to reunite thousands of lost medals with their former groups?

Replacement and Replica Medals
We are all aware of the existence of fake or altered medals designed to deceive the collector into thinking he has something which, in reality he has not. However there are replica and official replacement medals which are on the market not designed to deceive the collector which you should be aware of. Official replacements are sold to recipients of awards who have either lost their original medal or wish to wear duplicates on parade to prevent damaging their original pieces. These medals are often indistinguishable from original awards but are normally stamped 'REPLACEMENT' on the rim or reverse. They have little value to the collector but can often fill gaps in a collection where original examples are too rare or expensive.

The other category includes replicas sold direct to collectors. Replicas of the Victoria Cross (and many other gallantry awards and some campaign medals) are seen on sale from dealers. As it is highly unlikely most of us will ever have the money required to buy an original VC at auction this is the only way we can represent one in our collection. As with replacements these are not intended to deceive and have 'COPY' or 'REPLICA' stamped on the reverse or rim. Again these have little value but can plug gaps in collections.

Replica medals are somewhat controversial and, for example, the Orders and Medals Research Society (OMRS) are staunchly opposed to all forms of replica medals. But as mentioned above how many of us will ever own a Victoria Cross and so a replica is all we can have? You will have to make up your own mind on this issue.

Unofficial Medals
The notion of collecting 'unofficial' medals is on the fringes of medal collecting and often rejected by many collectors entirely. Unofficial medals, however, are becoming more and more numerous and are increasingly providing some collectors with a sideline to their main hobby.

Today unofficial medals are produced by private companies to recognize ex-service personnel for their part in various operations not officially recognized such as the Suez campaign. Normally a small part of the proceeds of these medals go to charities like the Royal British Legion who support ex-service men and women. However they can only be purchased by veterans themselves or their next of kin. Such medals therefore have the purpose of giving some recognition to veterans while raising money for a good cause.

These medals cannot be worn along side official awards since they are not authorized by the authorities due to their unofficial nature. They can however be worn at certain ceremonies by the veterans themselves, such as on Remembrance Day, provided they are worn on the right breast or below official awards.

It should be noted that not all unofficial medals are of recent manufacture and while most collectors steer clear of them there are some notable exceptions. An example of this can be seen in the Kimberly Star issued to the defenders of the town of Kimberly for its famous siege during the Boer War. The star was struck by the town authorities and never authorized for wear but due to its historic importance few collectors would turn down the chance of owning one. Also you may encounter semi-official medals issued by individual regiments, for say shooting competitions, and so you may consider having a place for them in your collection especially if you have a particular interest in that regiment.

Foreign Medals
When you embark on collecting British military medals you will at some point come across medals awarded to British or commonwealth recipients from foreign countries. Awards from rulers and governments of other countries have been made to British service personnel for many years and continue to this day. There are a number of well known examples including the Turkish Crimea Medal awarded to allied troops by the Sultan of Turkey for their participation in the war. The Khedive of Egypt also issued a series of stars to British troops for the various operations in Egypt between 1882 and 1891. These medals were proudly worn along side the British issue medals for these campaigns by those who earned them.

However not all foreign awards have been permitted to be worn by the British government. Personnel who served during the Gulf War of 1990-91 received, in addition to the British issue Gulf Medal, several others from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Unlike US and recipients from other countries neither of these two medals are allowed to be worn by British service men or women in uniform. They were merely accepted as a keepsake.

This then raises the question of whether foreign medals should be included in a collection. Indeed some collectors refuse to include them while others feel a collection is incomplete without them. Certainly medals awarded by foreign powers and authorized for wear by the British Government should always be included and few collectors would discount them but other medals not subsequently authorized are left to the discretion of the individual collector.

You will also need to consider the issue of multi-national medals. These are medals issued by NATO or the United Nations to many different nations whose troops participated in various campaigns or peacekeeping missions. Most (but not all) NATO and UN awards are automatically authorized for wear by the British authorities and as such should also be included in your collection.

Fake Medals
The serious issue of fake medals, whether they are reproductions or original pieces altered to give the appearance they are something they are not, is a major headache and minefield for collectors. The best way to spot fakes is to become used to dealing with and handling original medals from private collections or at dealer’s shops. This way you will get a feel for the item and you may spot things which seem odd or out of place. The collector should be particularly beware of re-named medals or un-named medals being later named and clasps that have been added to a medal to make them seem more desirable.

Medals will be encountered that show signs of re-naming, that is the original name on the rim being removed and a new name impressed or engraved over the top. This happens usually through one of two ways. The first is where a recipient of a medal loses his own and purchases a replacement from a pawnbroker or other source and has his name stamped or engraved over the original. These are seen by some collectors as acceptable (though reduce the value somewhat) and need to be verified to a medal roll to ensure entitlement, while other collectors steer clear of them. The second is where medals have been altered by people to falsely increase their value and deceive the collector, i.e. re-named to a rare or distinguished regiment which attracts higher prices (such as a Crimean War Medal named to a member of the Light Brigade or a South Africa Medal to a man who died at the battle of Isandhlwana). Re-named medals can often be spotted by looking at the profile or cross section of the lower rim which may appear thinner than other areas of the medal where the metal has been removed along with the original naming.

Another (and harder to spot) problem with naming is where medals, like the Baltic Medal or the Crimean Medal, that were issued un-named are later named to rare units by fakers. The Baltic Medal for example was issued almost exclusively to the Royal Navy who rarely named their medals at that time. However about 100 where issued to the Royal Sappers and Miners (Royal Engineers) which were officially named and so demand high prices at auction. Many of these un-named Baltic Medals have in past years been falsely named to those of the Royal Sappers and Miners and are hard to spot as fakes because of the fact the medal is original and no renaming over the top of a previous recipient has occurred. Here the collector has to examine the style of the naming and ask himself, is it in the correct type of script used at the time for this medal? Should the naming be impressed or engraved? Are all the letters correct and the same as on other known genuine examples? It should be noted that un-named medals were often privately engraved by the recipient and so styles can vary a great deal but are still genuine awards.

Clasps are also a problem and have been targeted by fakers. Many medals may have been issued without clasps although clasps have been authorized for that particular medal. Here the fakers add clasps; sometimes genuine clasps obtained from say damaged medals or fake clasps ranging from poorly made to almost perfect copies, thus raising the value of the medal. Sometimes it may seem obvious that clasps have been added later to the medal after its original award with signs of crude rivets. However even here the clasp may actually be genuine with them being correctly awarded and later added while the soldier is serving abroad in say India where the workmanship was of a lower quality than in Britain. Again this is a minefield but verifying the award to a medal roll will help the collector see whether the recipient was entitled to the clasps or not.

Condition of Medals
When collecting medals you will need to understand the system employed to describe their condition found in dealers catalogues and at auctions. Obviously the better the condition the more a medal will be worth and you should always opt for those in the best condition you can find. However a rare medal in poor condition may still be of high value. Would you turn down the chance of owning a medal issued to say a Rorkes Drift defender just because it was in a poor state? Of course not but if the medal is relatively common and not in great shape wait for a better specimen to come along before parting with your hard earned cash.

Mint	Mint condition - no marks or scratches and in perfect condition.
EF	Extremely Fine - just falls short of mint condition, very minor blemish or other mark.
AEF	Almost Extremely Fine - again just short of EF with slight and minor marks or scratches.
GVF	Good Very Fine - Generally very good condition with some minor scratches.
VF	Very Fine - Slightly worn, minor scratches and minor edge knocks.
AVF	Almost Very Fine - Slightly worn with some scratches and edge knocks.
F	Fine - Somewhat worn, scratched with edge knocks.
AF	Almost Fine - Generally poor overall condition and should be avoided in the main except in the case of particularly rare items.

*Please note you may come across minor variations used by some dealers or auction houses.

Value of Medals
Knowing what to pay for a medal is always a problem especially if you are new to the hobby. The value of medals is constantly changing and medals named to certain individuals or units can have a far greater price tag than the same medal awarded to another recipient. We have not put current values of medals on this site because it would be near impossible to keep it up to date. We therefore very strongly recommend you purchase one or both of the books listed below to ensure you do not pay more than you should for your collection:

Please note these publications are published annually and so should be purchased every year to keep you up to date.

Cleaning Medals
Generally speaking you do not need to clean medals and many medal collectors would cringe at even the thought of it. The problem with cleaning is that abrasive cleaners rub the metal and over time can blur the detail of the medal (which basically means causing it damage and decreasing the value). Some medal collectors love the dark toning of old medals but others cannot see the attraction, as after all it is only dirt. However medals can be cleaned safely by using Goddards Silverdip, a non-abrasive cleaner available at most jewelers and many supermarkets, which causes no harm to the medal. Simply submerge the medal for a few seconds into the dip then wash it in warm soapy water. You can then rinse it in cold water and allow it to air dry as you don't want to rub the medal with a cloth. This procedure may, for very dirty medals, need to be repeated several times but once it is reasonably clean you will never need to do this again during its lifetime in your collection. This works for both silver and bronze medals but the latter will become dirty again very quickly so you may wish to leave them as they are or simply wash them in warm soapy water then rinse.

If you are in doubt about cleaning your medals then don't! No harm can be done by the dirt and if you are happy with the way it is then there is no need to worry. However if you do decide you want to clean a medal try to remember that you only want to clean and NOT polish it!

Ribbons
Many collectors prize having what they consider to be the original ribbon on their medals. However despite the ribbon being old, it is unlikely that your ribbon is indeed original. Many First and Second World War medals often appear with original ribbons as they are so common with the vast majority probably never being worn or left in a draw at home and forgotten about for years. Victorian medals are very unlikely to bear original ribbons and will often have had them renewed several times by the recipient over time as medals were worn far more then than they are today.

So the question is what do you do with an old rather tatty or short piece of ribbon? You can buy a new one from a medal dealer and keep the old one safe in a box in case you want it later. If the ribbon is, or at least seems to be, original but is dirty you can clean it, however you run the risk of the colours running or the silk rotting if you wash them. Simply turning the ribbon inside out often does the trick. Having an original ribbon on a medal does not increase its value.

Note that collecting medal ribbons has become a hobby in itself where collectors obtain ribbons alone without the medal.

Displaying Your Collection
When your collection begins to take shape you may want to display them somehow as it would be a great shame to put them away in a draw or box for no one to ever see them but yourself. There are various methods such as deep wall mounted picture frames or glass fronted museum type cabinets which require a lot of space and expose your medals to sunlight (causing ribbons to fade) and can be a tempting sight to a burglar or thief. Also you need to stick the medal to the backing of the picture or cabinet if it is mounted upright on a wall with pins or other similar attachment causing minor damage to the ribbons. Another method is that of a wooden cabinet with doors that you open to expose pull out trays on which to place your medals. Again you need space if you are to build a sizable cabinet capable of holding an ever growing collection. Another disadvantage is that you can only see one side of your medal without removing it.

A popular method is the use of medal albums which are available from most dealers. These are ring binder type folders that contain a number of clear plastic inserts usually capable of holding six medals in clear plastic envelopes. A typical medal album will hold between 30 to 36 medals and can be viewed like photos in a photo album with both the obverse and reverse of the medal viewable. Other advantages to these albums are that they are inexpensive and easily stored on a shelf or in a draw. The disadvantage of albums is their incapability of holding groups of mounted medals.

Another problem with displaying medals is in what order to organize them. This is sometimes difficult but you can display them in chronological order like they are listed on this site. However other collectors prefer to display them in order of official wear but this might place some seemingly out of step. That said you always place any gallantry medals first, followed by campaign medals, jubilee, long service etc. which is roughly the order such medals would be worn by a recipient. At the end of the day the medals are yours and it is up to you how you display them.

Mounted Medals
You will often encounter groups of medals mounted as worn by the recipient. These look great but there is the problem of the medals swinging and bumping into each other causing pitting. Many medals show signs of pitting where they have been worn next to another and you really want to prevent further damage of this nature. The only thing you can do is be particularly careful when you handle them so they don't knock one another. However if the ribbons are very tatty or falling apart and rotting you may want to un-mount and give them new ribbons. Similarly if old medals are mounted but have very new looking ribbons it is probably unlikely this is how they were worn by the original recipient especially if he has probably been dead for many years so again they may be best un-mounted. It is nice to have medals mounted as worn by the recipient but this does not add to the value of the group and nor does un-mounting them decrease their value.

Mounting Medals for Wear
This section is intended for those of you who have been awarded medals of your own or have family medals that you wish to wear at certain ceremonial events. We have received a number of emails asking where mounting can be done. Lower down the page you will find several links to medal firms who offer a first rate medal mounting service who we have had dealings with and recommend. They will also be able to advise you on the correct order your medals should be worn.

However before you send off your medals for mounting you should consider which of the two styles you want. The first is called 'Free Swing' where medals are sewn to a pin broach and can be pinned to your uniform or other clothes. The problem with this style of mounting is that if you have more than one medal they will swing about and bump into each other causing tiny marks on your medals. It is however the generally cheaper option of the two. The second style is called 'Court Mounted' where the ribbon is again attached to a pin broach but the length of the ribbon also appears down the rear of the medal and is usually glued to a hard piece of cardboard or plastic etc. The medals are then securely sewn to this backing to prevent movement and so dramatically reduces the chance of damage to the medals when worn. This is more expensive but looks better and protects your medals

Researching Medals
You may want to conduct some research on the recipient of the medals within your collection. Such research can reveal a wealth of information on the person who earned the award. To learn more about carrying out research and to see some examples of what types of information can be found please see the 'Researching Medals' section.

Orders and Medals Research Society (OMRS)
If you are a collector of British orders, decorations and medals of Great Britain then you should consider membership of this Society. You will gain the opportunity to discuss and exchange the results of research with some 2,500 members worldwide, including many acknowledged experts in this hobby.

If you would like to join the OMRS please visit their web site at http://www.omrs.org.uk.

Medal News Magazine
For those who wish to keep up to date about current issues regarding British medals there is a magazine called Medal News which is published monthly. Each issue also contains a range of articles about medals and the men who won them as well as listings of medal dealers and other adverts of interest to the collector. If you would like to learn more about this unique publication or take out a subscription please visit the Token Publishing web site at http://www.tokenpublishing.com.

The Medal Year Book
From the same publisher as Medal News this excellent book is an absolute must for the collector. It acts as a price guide to the hobby of medal collecting and covers Orders of Chivalry, Gallantry decorations, campaign medals, life saving awards, miscellaneous medals and unofficial medals. The book also encompasses all British and Empire medals as well as those current medals from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. All medals and ribbons are illustrated in full colour with an easy to use medal ribbon chart in the back. If you would like to find out more and purchase this annual publication please see the ‘Bookstore’ section.