Since it becomes customary and tradition to award medals to persons or organizations as a form of recognition, producing and making medals and awards also became a special trade and craftsmanship. Makers started making medals out of inexpensive materials and produced pieces that had been sculpted, struck, stamped and casted. Makers are called medalists or medal artists who are either a sculptor or a goldsmith. In modern times, education or a career in designing medals and other recognitions are learned from institutions with specialization in Arts and Crafts. In the past, it started with an engraver casting or minting medals in metals like bronze, silver and gold.
Producing medals and awards is not a new trade or craftsmanship as during the Renaissance period, creating artistic medals is popular arts with the invention of portrait award casted like sculptures in bronze, silver and gold. Nevertheless, modern medal specialists are still doing the portrait award type and are still using the same casting techniques but with another term such as investment casting. For example, awards Sydney uses variations of the process like mold casting or waste mold casting and the more predominant piece-molding process.
Medal makers also evolved overtime and produced variations of recognition pieces used to recognize personal achievements in fields like sports, education, science and other fields of human endeavors. It is appropriately termed as awards. Certain group of makers specializes in certain types like Military medals and decorations including the British Victoria Cross and the American Silver Star.
Makers of traditional medals produced traditional medals worn as pendant or around the neck. On the other hand, circular table medal makers produced medals that are larger and created to commemorate events or as souvenirs purposes. They’re more coin-like in appearance and can be displayed on table or cabinet. Awards Melbourne oftentimes is commissioned to produce table medals for national sports events such as Melbourne Annual Horse Derby. Copies and replicas of Melbourne National Derby trophy in wood, plastic, fibre and other compositions are sold to the public as events souvenirs.
It is now common for specialists to produce special memorabilia types with company logo or organization emblem to immortalize events or team achievements or as representations of certain competition places, standards or classes such as Olympic medals and US and Australian Open trophies, The Pulitzers medals and Asian and Nobel Peace Awards and Arts Awards like Design Awards.
It’s refreshing to know that one’s achievements are recognized no matter how small through medals and awards created by specialists for it to be remembered through the years.