Medals are best stored in boxes made of hoop pine plywood or acid-free cardboard. Ordinary cardboard, and other woods including woods often used to make cabinets for coins and medals, such as oak, mahogany, chipboard and ordinary plywood are acidic, and can harm metals and fabrics.
Before use, wooden boxes can be completely coated with three coats of polyurethane resin from a hardware store , then left to dry thoroughly so that no odour remains.
Please take appropriate safety precautions when working with paints or solvents. Wrap the medal in acid-free tissue paper or well-washed fabric, preferably undyed.
Soft cotton and linen fabric such as sheets, handkerchiefs or teatowels are suitable, but other fabrics such as velvet should not be used because some contain acidic dyes, which can cause the metal to corrode.
Woollen felts should also be avoided, because the sulphur in the wool can cause metals to tarnish. Acid-free tissue paper and card as well as boxes made of acid-free cardboard are available from specialist suppliers of library or conservation materials. Handle the medal as little as possible, as acid from your fingers can harm it. We recommend wearing soft cotton gloves readily available and inexpensive when handling medals or any precious article.
And polishing will quickly remove the gilded layer from gold-plated medals for example, the Victory medal. Also, some polishes contain silicones which stay on the surface, making the application of a protective coating difficult and later cleaning more drastic than usual.
Note that when cleaning medals you should wear gloves and work in a well-ventilated area. Some of the chemicals are harmful if they touch the skin or are inhaled. Do not smoke when working with paints or solvents. Work out what you need and assemble everything before you start work. Allow enough time to work slowly and carefully, and to finish the job. For each stage of cleaning, first try the cleaning method on a small and inconspicuous area of the medal, for example part of the edge.
If you are worried the treatment is harming the medal - stop. If rainbows appear on the medal, the lacquer is too thin or the room temperature is too low.
Sometimes the lacquer will become cloudy during drying. Many medals come with cloth ribbons. Gold or silver on a medal's surface is usually just a thin coating of the precious metal. Overzealous cleaning can actually ruin military medals. Remove ribbons if possible. If ribbons cannot be removed, be careful not to get solvents on the ribbons. Use silver cleaner on each medal's surface. Silver cleaner should be used on all types of medal, whether silver, gold or brass.
If you use the wrong cleaner on a medal you may irrevocably damage the surface and spoil the appearance of the medal, and reduce its value. Certain medals have gilt washes or a bronzed finish and cleaning of these should be kept to an absolute minimum. Modern medals, such as the majority of campaign medals issued by the UK government after about and several of the WW2 medals, are made of cupro-nickel and can easily be damaged by abrasive cleaners.
A clean with soap and water, careful drying and a buff with a soft cloth is all that should be undertaken by novices with regard to these medals. Medals from before this date are usually made from silver, silver gilt, brass or bronze and can be carefully cleaned with the correct cleaner for the correct type of metal.
Once cleaned, they should be rinsed in water with soap to remove any polish residues, dried thoroughly and then gently buffed with a soft cloth.
Dipping solutions, such as Goddard's silver dip are excellent because they clean into all the crevices and fine detail of the medal without the need to brush or polish heavily but care should be taken not to leave medals in the solutions for too long and not to dip gilded medals because the gilding might be removed by the cleaning agent.
Some over the counter brass cleaners are ok for the brass or bronze medals but should be applied only with a cloth, cotton bud or very soft brush and it should be noted that the colour of the medal will change as a result of the cleaning and some cleaners can be abrasive so seek advice if you are at all unsure.
Care should be taken to remove any residue of polish because as they dry many brass cleaners will be visible as a white or greenish powdery mark. Whatever your preference, cleaning should really be kept to a minimum, excessive polishing will remove the clarity of the detail of the medal and may introduce scratches to the medal surface which again will detract from both its aesthetic appearance and its value.
However, where the medal is marked with dirt or verdigris, damage will occur if it is left so cleaning it will improve its appearance and prevent further decay of the metal so should be undertaken. If you have medals that are mounted as worn it is quite difficult to clean these properly without making the ribbons dirty so extra care should be taken, or new ribbons could be fitted at this stage if desired.
Back to the top of the page. Ribbons are another subject that divides medal collectors. Some will keep medals on old and tatty ribbons whereas some will replace ribbons as soon as they acquire the medal. Again, it is really a matter of preference, especially for owners of family medals. The only over-riding factor is the protection of the medals themselves. If the medals are likely to be worn or displayed suspended then they should hang securely on good quality ribbons to prevent them falling off and becoming lost or damaged.
If your medals are mounted on a suspension bar for wearing, or are as they were worn by your family member, you may choose to keep them that way and many collectors would echo this view, provided they are secure. Court mounting, where the medals are stitched to a completely ribbon wrapped board is often very secure, and an attractive method of mounting, but does make cleaning quite difficult.
If you decide you would like to replace ribbons for your medals they can be easily and cheaply acquired from a local medal shop, or from many outlets online. Many medals are double sided and there is a correct side which should face up, known as the obverse, and where you have more than one medal in a group there is also a correct order of wear.
Again, your local medal shop or online resources will be able to guide you here. There are many companies offering a medal mounting service and whilst the majority are reputable others may not be.
Before you send your precious medal group away for mounting check the company out, and photograph the medals before you send them, making particular note of any naming that appears on the reverse or rim of each medal. Officially speaking, only the recipients are entitled to wear medals. Again, it is difficult to be critical of this practice but when numerous medal groups are worn by one person it can be seen to diminish their importance.
It is a criminal offence to wear medals with the intention to deceive so officially medals should only be worn on the left breast by the recipients, and unofficially on the right breast in moderation by relatives. A recent trend for unofficial or commemorative medals has also developed and without a doubt these diminish the value of official medals and serving personnel are not permitted to wear them.
Arguably, it is acceptable for old soldiers to wear these to denote a particular battle within a large campaign for which they were awarded a generic campaign medal, but for personnel who are not entitled to any medals to wear these only to be seen to be wearing medals is close to deception and should be avoided.
This largely depends on what you want to do with them. If you have been awarded medals or have family medals and intend to wear them they should be kept securely, in a box, wrapped in a clean cloth in such a way as to prevent their clinking together or rubbing against each other. Cheers Tom. Posted 13 February , Personal preference regarding the cleaning of medals but for me iles there was a risk of damage from corrosion I would leave well alone Justin H.
Anneca Posted 13 February , Antique wax after cleaning sounds like a great idea Tony, I'll take your and Tom's advice. Many thanks, Anne. Tom Lang Posted 13 February , It is a personal preference, but I'd prefer to leave the patina alone.
Just my 2p-worth. Kindest Regards, Tom. Medaler Posted 31 March , Posted 31 March , Cheers, Mike. LarsA Posted 1 April , Posted 1 April , Medaler Posted 1 April , Many thanks Lars, I will give that a try. Kimberley John Lindsay Posted 18 May , Posted 18 May , Dear Medal Cleaners, Personally, I like the Mounted As Worn type of group, and clean the medals very lightly, as a compromise between patina and brighness. Kindest regards, Kimberley John Lindsay.
WilliamRev Posted 18 May , It is named to a Gordon so I suspect it is silver under there somewhere. Thanks in advance, Chris. Phil Posted 18 May , Coldstreamer Posted 18 May , Create an account or sign in to comment You need to be a member in order to leave a comment Create an account Sign up for a new account in our community.
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