How To Store And Display Awards.

[EricFG]

A few common medals and some originality and creativity can produce wonders.

[deValcourt]

I just spent the last 2 hours looking at this thread.

I think it's gonna be years until i have anything worth posting on here

I now officially need an Order of Glory 3rd and an Order of the Red Banner too! haha

Tommy

I agree with Eric here (as most times). You can make the most of the simplest awards with some basic ingenuity and a good look through this and other similar threads.

For example, one year I gave my mother a simple silver (1st class) "Medal of Motherhood" which has a good bit of excellent patina on it. She put it in a plain, though complimentary frame from Wal-Mart without the glass so that the medal is in full view and can even be handled to see the reverse. This idea of an unsealed presentation of an award - any award - appeals to me for the same reason she did that medal; it can be turned over while viewing it.

All of my highest (and most expensive) awards are not sealed away and even if they are not on display at the moment are laid out in the frame or shadow box I intend to eventually display them in. Nothing but cotton and air come into contact with them. So far, none appear worse for wear because of this method.

However, I do also have quite a few orders and medals in a sleeved museum quality plastic sheath in a three-ring binder until I know what I am going to do with them. Most of these are things like medals of bravery, courage and a couple of OG3s. My new approach is to put them back on uniform tunics I am putting on display in various places in my house. It is becoming more interesting to me to see them on an appropriate uniform.

Phillip

[EricFG]

However, I do also have quite a few orders and medals in a sleeved museum quality plastic sheath in a three-ring binder until I know what I am going to do with them. Most of these are things like medals of bravery, courage and a couple of OG3s. My new approach is to put them back on uniform tunics I am putting on display in various places in my house. It is becoming more interesting to me to see them on an appropriate uniform.

Phillip

I'd love to see before and after images of this deal, Phillipskiy.
Also, good call on the Mother's Day gift! :thumbsup

[Tommy]

True, i suppose its the composition and style of the display more than the value of the medals in it that counts!

I have a couple of things coming my way soon so i may have to try and get my creative juices flowing!

[Tretov]

This is horrible but I feel that I need to show this just to warn anyone else what happens when silver oxidize. I have, until today, had my collection hanging on a board in a room in my parents house (I live on another location since several years) and frankly I haven't spent much time looking at the awards.

Anyway, today I noticed that several of them had turned suspiciously black, and, my friends - it was a disaster. Most of my October Revolutions as well as Red Star and Patriotic War have blackened entirely, some Friendship of Nations are turning black. I do not know what to do and I do not know if there is anything that can be done. I removed the awards from the board and carefully put them in a box with some clean cloth between, later this week or next week I need to further assess the damage.

I am in horror and I am very sad. Just look at the once so beautiful October Revolution orders, how the metal has reacted with air and with other metal. Of course, one may think that the same could have happened if a veteran stored his awards in a bookshelf - but I am not a veteran, I am a collector and I should have known better.

[Tretov]

Some more photos of this disaster.

It should be said that those Order of October Revolution awards kept in a glass shelf in my ordinary home are in same nice condition as when I bought them, as well as those which came mounted on uniforms and kept in the closet.

Can I do something? I know there are tricks (which do not include chemicals) for silverware but ... Help?

[CtahhR]

A good wipe with a towel would be a good start. I have found that warm temperatures and storage don't work very well together, cold and damp don't either.

Having them "open" is probably not a suggested storage if you want them to retain their fresher look. You can however be very safe in the knowledge that these awards have aged naturally and not under duress.

The frame of Orders I posted here some time ago (and will have to post again sometime soon) also exposes the awards to natural ageing. I usually take them all off and give them a wipe down once a year. As the Yorkshire climate is usually cold at best and the 17th century house is poorly heated (if you could use the word "heat", they don't actually age much at all. Removing them for cleaning is probably more self indulgence than actual necessary maintenance.

[EricFG]

Patric, I think that's just patina. Now why that happens so quickly and so darkly in your case is unknown to me. Some sort perhaps chemicals in the air and humidity perhaps are the culprit? Or possibly a reaction to something in the cloth they are mounted on?
I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that if you took some soapy water and a soft cloth (microfibre, for it's non-scratching proprties) to them all that black would come off.
I have a few silver medals in my collection and some do have a very dark patina. I quite like them like that.
I think you're in no great danger at all but thanks for bring to light a valuable topic.

[medals73]

Short of serious museum-quality storage, we can't do much about the natural environment. Especially since the natural environment in which these things were stored for many decades was probably far worse than anything we could do to them (tobacco smoke, worse air pollution than most of us suffer from, more variable climate, etc.).

Eric's suggestions, as usual, are spot-on. All I could add is a plea not to polish or otherwise invasively and permanently alter them and, more importantly, don't worry or panic. Time, history, and change are inevitable, for medals as much as for humans. What you see is just a natural part of their life.

[Tretov]

Thanks for all the input. I will try to clean them with a little soap and some very soft cloth when I get a chance a little later. I really hope the awards are not destroyed. Also, I will need to look at some other solution than having them mounted like that. I don't know why the OoOR have suffered this much, could be that there is some stream of air up by the roof to/from the window. It is a non-smoking environment.