Ed,
Thank you, sir, for all the links. A lot of variables to consider. Personally, I am of a mind to have my medals where I can see them myself. That's 90% of the enjoyment of owning them. Keeping your display cabinets (whatever your choice) out of sight from those who might consider walking off with their contents is important. So I think another room in the house would be the place, not the front room. And you could add a dead-bolt to the door of this separate room to secure it when you were away from home.
I also like my pieces easily accessible to me, that is, where I can easily remove them for study, photography or just letting someone such as a friend handle them. I like Shawn's idea of a deeper display case to keep the medals away from contact with the glass but, on the other hand, pinning them down (as even I mentioned earlier) almost prevents you from doing any of the above. Alas, this is why I chose to put them in an upright wooden furnishing (multi-shelved) in another room separate from the main traffic area of my home. I have three areas of collecting: WWll USSR, WWll Germany and WWll USA. I'm going to display everything I have of all three areas resting on period flags of these three countries. Daggers, medals, orders, pins, patches, dogtags, etc. I would still like to use the Indian River wall frames to display sets like the Order of Glory and Order of Lenin (upper-end pieces) with documents and photos just as Dave has done. IMO, I think acid-free photography plastic will work fine to keep the enameled orders safe from hazard against the glass. And the show goes on...
Here's an example that illustrates your idea of keeping space between the medals and the glass. In this custom frame I had made, the black velvet material is wrapped around the cardpaper as you described and the medals were attached to the velvet by means of very fine wire thread. I just punched holes through the velvet-covered cardpaper with a pin and strung the wire through these holes. It worked very well. BTW, I stapled the velvet to the cardpaper around the very edge or perimeter. All the staples are hidden behind the wooden recess in the frame (as I have hidden half of my ugly mug behind the camera
).
Robert
two more photos to help illustrate the velvet-covered cardpaper and the space needed between the medals and backing...
Thank you, sir, for all the links. A lot of variables to consider. Personally, I am of a mind to have my medals where I can see them myself. That's 90% of the enjoyment of owning them. Keeping your display cabinets (whatever your choice) out of sight from those who might consider walking off with their contents is important. So I think another room in the house would be the place, not the front room. And you could add a dead-bolt to the door of this separate room to secure it when you were away from home.
I also like my pieces easily accessible to me, that is, where I can easily remove them for study, photography or just letting someone such as a friend handle them. I like Shawn's idea of a deeper display case to keep the medals away from contact with the glass but, on the other hand, pinning them down (as even I mentioned earlier) almost prevents you from doing any of the above. Alas, this is why I chose to put them in an upright wooden furnishing (multi-shelved) in another room separate from the main traffic area of my home. I have three areas of collecting: WWll USSR, WWll Germany and WWll USA. I'm going to display everything I have of all three areas resting on period flags of these three countries. Daggers, medals, orders, pins, patches, dogtags, etc. I would still like to use the Indian River wall frames to display sets like the Order of Glory and Order of Lenin (upper-end pieces) with documents and photos just as Dave has done. IMO, I think acid-free photography plastic will work fine to keep the enameled orders safe from hazard against the glass. And the show goes on...
Here's an example that illustrates your idea of keeping space between the medals and the glass. In this custom frame I had made, the black velvet material is wrapped around the cardpaper as you described and the medals were attached to the velvet by means of very fine wire thread. I just punched holes through the velvet-covered cardpaper with a pin and strung the wire through these holes. It worked very well. BTW, I stapled the velvet to the cardpaper around the very edge or perimeter. All the staples are hidden behind the wooden recess in the frame (as I have hidden half of my ugly mug behind the camera
). Robert
two more photos to help illustrate the velvet-covered cardpaper and the space needed between the medals and backing...
