Art medals

A medal or medallion is a portable artistic object (objet d'art) belonging to the class known as numismatics, struck like a coin by dies on a durable metal flan or planchet of varying sizes and shapes though frequently found as the more common round piece of metal in bas relief of varying heights that has been sculpted, molded, cast, struck, stamped, or some way marked with an insignia, portrait, or other artistic rendering usually surrounded by a legend, i.e., an inscription. Medals having a rectangular shape, for example, are a special class known as plaquettes. Other irregular and non standard shapes or configurations abound including a wide variety of shapes of badges, crosses, stars, and so forth, sometimes attached to a ribbon or cord.

There are at least seven classes of medals. 1. Awards: A medal may be awarded to a person or organization as a form of recognition for sporting, military, scientific, cultural, academic, or various other achievements. Military awards and decorations are more precise terms for certain types of state decoration. Military decorations are often in shapes such as crosses or stars, but are still loosely called "medals", as in the star-shaped American Medal of Honor. 2. Commemoratives : Medals may also be created for sale to commemorate particular individuals or events, or as works of artistic expression in their own right. 3. Souvenirs: Medals are also made as souvenirs, similar to a commemorative, but more focused on a place or event like a State Fairs, Expositions, Museums, Historic sites, etc., and frequently found for sale within their respective souvenir shops. During the Renaissance, medals were sometimes commissioned for an individual, typically with their portrait, were often used as a form of diplomatic or personal gift, with no sense of being an award for the conduct of the recipient. 4. Religious : There are also devotional medals which may be worn for religious reasons. 5. Portraits : A medal produced to immortalize a person in their portrait sometimes with the caption in Latin Aetate to describe their age at the time of the portrait. 6. Artistic : Medals can be made purely as an art object. 7. Society Medals : Medals are very frequently made for societies used as a badge or token of membership.

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