YOUR INTRODUCTION TO COLLECTING MEDALS

The Ancient Egyptians gave golden amulets to their greatest warriors. The Celts also valued precious metals and rewarded their bards and brawlers with tightly-twisted collars of gold and silver, known as torcs. The Greeks were less showy and decorated their soldiers, athletes, poets and musicians with simple wreathes made from the branches of the olive tree.

Medals as we know them, however, were first produced in Italy in the 1430s. These early examples were very much commemorative pieces, made in small numbers to celebrate specific events, people and places. London’s Victoria and Albert Museum has a stunning collection of medals and plaquettes which date from this period and what’s immediately clear is that, while these medals were the height of Late Medieval fashion, they took their