When it comes to collecting medals and their cousins, medallions and medalets, size really is everything.
Medal collecting is an area where exacting terminology identifies the items. Knowing that what distinguishes the types of medals from each other is their size is necessary to engage in knowledgeable collecting.
Medals are usually pieces of metal, marked with a design or inscription, made to honor a person, place or event.
Medals are not intended to circulate as money. Medals may not be considered tokens, which have a stated or implied value (being "good for" a certain amount or a service, such as a bus fare) and are used as money substitutes.
A medal's intended purpose is what makes it different from a coin or token, writes D. Wayne Johnson at a Frequently Asked Questions portion of the Medal Collectors of America Web site www.medalcollectors.org/Questions/index.html.
"Medals, most notably, are made to be beautiful, or to commemorate or memorialize or for one of several of their other characteristics," Johnson concludes.
Medals as we know them originated in 15th-century Italy, "where a prospering economy was generating a change in man's view of art and himself," writes Richard Doty in The MacMillan Encyclopedic Dictionary of Numismatic Terms. "The heightened commercial tempo gave birth to a leisure class, with the time and money to patronize the arts and rediscover the classics. And rediscovery led to the recreation of classical forms in areas ranging from architecture to coinage to medals."
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Images courtesy of Stack's Rarities and Coin World file photos. ACTUAL SIZE IMAGES provide a comparison between medals, medallions and medalets. The unique 90-millimeter, 621-gram congressional gold medal awarded to Zachary Taylor for his military leadership during the Mexican War, top, is the fourth-largest congressional gold medal, but qualifies as a medallion because of its size. President John F. Kennedy's inaugural medal by Paul Manship, at 3 inches in diameter, straddles the line between medal and medallion. A medalet by George Lovett depicting President Washington measures just 19.2 millimeters.
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The Romans had struck large, showy medallions of bronze, silver and gold celebrating their emperors from the second to fifth centuries A.D., and Renaissance Italy followed this tradition using new medals (larger than the Roman medallions) to celebrate its leaders, Doty said.
The earliest Roman medallions date to the reign of the emperor Hadrian, who ruled from A.D. 117 to 138, and were usually struck in bronze, and were broader and about twice as heavy as the largest circulating coinage denomination.
Whether these bronze medallions also served a monetary function is unclear, Doty said, but they are "among the finest achievements of Roman numismatic arts." He said that their additional surface space allowed engravers to stretch their artistic limits with "magnificent" obverse portraits and reverses rich in symbolism and allegory.
Later, the Roman medallions were struck in silver and gold, and may have served an economic function. However, as intrinsic value increased, the artistic value dropped, Doty said.
The term medal can be confused with certain types of military awards, Doty said. "The term medal is often used indiscriminately to refer to decorations as well as those pieces which are actually medals. In correct usage, a decoration is an award designed to be worn by its recipient. A medal is not so intended."
Size is the determining factor in whether an object qualifies as a medal, medalet or medallion. The Coin World Almanac, 2000 edition, lays out the differences fairly clearly: a medalet is a medal about 1 inch (or 25.4 millimeters) in diameter or less, and a medallion is a medal 3 or more inches in diameter.
Johnson notes similar size standards for what constitutes a medal in Europe, stating that "medalets" are those medals that are less than 1 inch (25.4 millimeters) in diameter.
He continues: "Numismatists in Europe say medallions have a diameter of 80 millimeters or larger; this equivalent in inches (3 - 3/16-inch) is the dividing line between medals and medallions in America. But ‘medal' and ‘medallion' are used so indiscriminately by the public that these definitions are blurred in most people's minds (who may not even be aware that the concept of size is the distinction)."
Medalets and medallions are simply types or classifications of medals, used for a more proper description.
Medalets are rooted in the jeton, or counting token, according to Doty.
"Poor man's medals," as Doty calls the earliest medalets, were usually struck in base metal and often depicted allegorical and religious scenes. "The number of surviving medalets with holes indicates they were frequently pierced by their owners and worn for good luck," Doty said.
Johnson points out that two other terms you should know are "plaque" and "plaquette," which are generally square or rectangular medals. The dividing line between the two is at 8 inches (20.3 centimeters), with a plaquette the smaller size. "If a plaque gets too big it's called a tablet (these are measured in feet and are rarely collected). I cut off medallic items at 18 inches or less as collectable," Johnson said.
Collectors can find numerous examples of medals. One prominent series dates from the early 19th century to the 21st century: congressional gold medals issued by the United States Mint (and the pieces of the same designs in other metals and different sizes, often sold to collectors). Some of the larger of these U.S. Mint pieces qualify as medallions because of their size.
The largest congressional gold medal awarded is the 105-millimeter, 37-ounce Joseph Francis lifesaving medal, cataloged as Julian LS-13 in Medals of the United States Mint: The First Century 1792-1892 by Robert W. Julian.
The second largest congressional medal is the 1863 Ulysses S. Grant medal for Vicksburg, Julian MI-29, at 105 millimeters and 29 ounces.
The third largest congressional gold medal issued, and the largest in private hands, is the Cyrus Field Transatlantic Cable medal, Julian PE-10, at 103 millimeters and 27 ounces.
The Maj. Gen. Zachary Taylor medal, Julian MI-24, and the Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott medal, Julian MI-26, share the fourth spot. Each measures 90 millimeters in diameter.
All of these qualify as medallions according to Johnson's terminology.
Twentieth and 21st century U.S. Mint medals are usually offered to collectors in three sizes, 1.5 inches or 1-3/16 inches, and 3 inches.
In American numismatics, medalets are particularly popular for political use. This was especially true for the American centennial and later, the centennial of President Washington's death. Numerous items were issued of various sizes, especially medalets.
It should be noted that some businesses selling newly produced medals today use "medallion" to describe their products, even for pieces that fall below the historical size threshold for a true medallion. You now know, however, that unless the piece is 3 inches in diameter or more, it's really a medal and not a medallion.
Medals, medallions and medalets can make a fascinating field, and knowing the differences among them, and between them and other similar items, will assist you in enjoying your collecting experience.
