Mounting your single medals

[Brian Wolfe]

Hello Everyone,

I have decided to embark on a new project and that is to court mount all of my single medals. Now don't get out the straight-jacket quite yet. The project will probbaly take me...well...years to complete. I think the look of the singles in my collection will be improved greatly when displayed. Any medals that I think have their original ribbons will not be mounted but left as is.

So, I finished my first one, an Indian Territorial, and realized there was more to this exercise than my current obsessive behaviour. Again, hold of on the net and sedatives.

I realized that this was perfect for someone like me (obsessive/compulsive, anal retentive types) who hate to touch their medals with their bare hands. I do handle my medals but never, never, never my Japanese Sword collection without wearing cloth gloves.

If you court mount the medal but do not actually stitch the medal itself to the mounting board you can rotate the board and observe the reverse all without touching the medal. Hold the medal vertically, obverse facing you, then tip the mounting board forward (toward you), continue until you only see the red felt backing (or whatever backing you use and low and behold the obverse is there for viewing when you rotate the medal around to face you once again. Just repeat this process to get the obverse back where is should be. It may seem obsessive to some but a fingerprinted medal in your collection may make you rethink this project.

Regards

Brian

The medal featured was awarded to:

10313911 SEP. JADISH SINGH, SIKH R.

[Brian Wolfe]

Here's what it looks like after the rotation of the mounting board.

Brian

[Brian Wolfe]

Here's a closeup of the area just above the mounting bar where I stitch it to the mounting board. This stitched section forms a cloth tube and acts as a hinge when rotating the medal.

I can see from the closeup I need to spend more time on my tailoring.

I hope you like this idea and give it a try, especially on the medals with hige silver content.

Regards

Brian

[JimZ]

Not so sure about stitching ribbons or mounting medals. That is an issue that other "obsessive/compulisve anal retentive" collectors may find objection to for other very obvious reasons.

My observation is that the stitching does indeed damage ribbons as once stitches are removed, the natural line of the silk moire threads is usually damaged and retains holes where the needle pierced the ribbon. Its therefore a definite No No! to anything with an original ribbon.

Cotton gloves are great for handling medals. Perhaps easier to simply wear such gloves when handling the medal than mounting them. After all, how often do you actually handle the medals once on display? And if rarely is the answer, how effective is the 'court mounting process' vs the cotton glove solution?

Regards

Jim

[Brian Wolfe]

Not so sure about stitching ribbons or mounting medals. That is an issue that other "obsessive/compulisve anal retentive" collectors may find objection to for other very obvious reasons.

My observation is that the stitching does indeed damage ribbons as once stitches are removed, the natural line of the silk moire threads is usually damaged and retains holes where the needle pierced the ribbon. Its therefore a definite No No! to anything with an original ribbon.

Cotton gloves are great for handling medals. Perhaps easier to simply wear such gloves when handling the medal than mounting them. After all, how often do you actually handle the medals once on display? And if rarely is the answer, how effective is the 'court mounting process' vs the cotton glove solution?

Regards

Jim

Hi Jim,

The ribbons I use are not the originals, as stated in my initial post. I would not change an original ribbon, even groups that I have which were never mounted remain as they were. The wearing of gloves is a good idea, no doubt about it. However, I do doubt there are many who actually put on gloves each time they handle a medal. Sure there are going to be some but I am speaking about the average collector. Even though there are gloves close to my collection (for my sword collection) I never think to put them on to handle a medal. Just too lazy I guess.

I decided to court mount my singles only because I like the look when they are displayed. The mounting elevates the medal from the display backing that is used and gives the medal a three-dimensional look. It also keeps the medal off the display backing which may not be acid free. This is not something I am prepared to defend, so-to-speak, it is just what I am doing with my collection. Court mounting vs cotton gloves....no contest, gloves are the easiest when it comes to keeping the finger prints off the medal. In fact the only way because the medal could still be touched by unprotected fingers when looking at a court mount.

Perhaps I just have too much time on my hands (but not cotton gloves).

Regards

Brian