Just for kicks, here are some of my non-military medals I received while in High School (track) and from VolksMarchs in Germany in the 80's. They are the epitome of TACKY and I'm forbidden to place them in the open for public viewing, according to the wife, LOL. Take Care Bone
I love medals of ANY type and have close to 150 in my collection (military and civilian). When I visit antique malls I just can't pass up a good medal. Most of them are framed and hanging in my "museum" and my wife knows better than to tell me to take them down! Actually, when I have visitors to the museum, they are more interested in the medals than the coin collection.
Bone you earned them mate and you should proudly display them have them all mounted and lets see the Bathroom would be the ideal spot as nearly all visitors need to use it at some stage LOL a great conversation piece. De Orc
I should go to Hobby-Lobby and get a big display case one day when she's out and after arranging them neatly/symmetrically take one of her Terry Redlin paintings down and put these UP, LMAO!!! Bone
LOL only do that mate if your Health Insurance is up to date and you have a good hospital within crawling distance De Orc
The Currency of Fame Congratulations on winning the medals! "Orders and Medals" is the formal name for this subset of numismatics. It is no more "OT" than a discussion of banknotes or tokens. Books on this subject tend to be specialised by topic. [General books about "coins" are fine and we all have one or more -- and might get one from Aunt Mathilda for your birthday. Yet, we numismatists tend to buy them about certain issues, by nation or series or time, etc.] The best general introduction is The Currency of Fame: Portrait Medals of the Renaissance by Stephen K. Scher and John Bigelow Taylor. Portraiture on coins was just an upgrade to putting one's name or symbol on them and that goes back to the first coins. However, the portrait medal as an artistic work to honor an individual, not a monetary medium identified by a portrait, was a specific invention of one man, Antonio Pisanello. Here are two of mine. The designs are the same. The bronze (obverse, I think) is second place, for "Sir Isaac Newton: Warden and Master of the Mint" (November 2001); the silver (reverse to me) is first place for "A New Look at the Origins of Coinage" (August 1995).
