History of medal-making
Cast medals are the result of artisans’ work. As early as ancient Rome and Greece, there were people who created medallions. During the period of widespread monarchy in Europe, special election medals were minted, among other types. They were intended to be original souvenirs commemorating the election of a new ruler to the throne of a given kingdom.
However, the greatest flourishing of medal-making, meaning the production of cast medals, came during the Renaissance. This difficult art developed and improved in Italy, from where it spread, among other places, to France and Germany. The French were responsible for improving the technical aspects of striking medallions.
The oldest cast medal in Poland is the medal struck for Jan Turzo in 1508. Such medallions were also produced at the court of Stanisław August Poniatowski. The greatest number of medals were struck until the 19th century, and medal-making mainly served to commemorate important events in the life of the royal court. Over time, patriotic and anniversary medallions began to be created.
Cast medals gradually began to be replaced by mass-produced medallions as technology developed. It is difficult to say that this is an evolution in the right direction. Such souvenirs have lost some of their commemorative and sentimental value.
Cast or mass-produced medal?
Today, in many cases, medals are produced on an assembly line and the process is largely automated. All the medallions look almost identical, which is an advantage in one respect: every athlete, soldier, artist and so on who is awarded one receives a similar prize. However, cast medals can confidently be called one-of-a-kind. They are produced using, for example, the traditional centrifugal casting technique. Individual batches of such medallions can be ordered, distinguishing them from orders for tens or hundreds of thousands of mass-produced medals. Cast medals are characterized by the highest precision of workmanship and hand finishing. As a result, no two are identical.
See also: Commemorative medals and pins – when are they a good choice?