TOPIC:

I've been a collector of medals (not just QSA's & KSA's which is quite recent) for many years. Is it a good thing or bad thing to clean a medal once to make it look good?

I understand that some people say its better to leave it as is but these days in many of the leading auction houses, most of the medals look pretty clean to me.

Regards
Ian

Can-of-Worms Ian Can-of-Worms

Each person has a different opinion on cleaning medals..... Some leave them the way they are worn, others like me say that a Sergeant-Major would never let you appear on parade with dirty medals.....

The nice thing is that the polish I use does not contain any grit.... The cleaning compound is small bits of fiber-glass..... Also I have found that cleaning with this product leaves a coating of some kind that I have not re-cleaned many or the medals for the past 10 years.....

It is also for those who want to know an approved and used product by appointment to Her Majesty......

The name of the product which is made in England is Peek also known here as Flitz polish.....

Mike

P.S. One thing that I do do is to save the original ribbons and put them in the records file that I make up for each medal.....

Hi Mike, thanks very much for all your info. Like you, I believe the medals should look good - my dad being an ex Captain would never go out unless his medals were spotless.

At the same time I don't want to wear our the silver so it'll be once only then a dust free environment.

Kind regards
Ian

Hi Ian, each person definitely has there own opinion, my Q S As, if they are VF-EF I like to silver dip them and lightly rub over, no polishing,which brings them up really well but others that have original ribbons I tend to keep with there tone. I would personally keep the original ribbons on the medal cleaned or not because it is part of the medal in my opinion,some of my Zulus are very dark toned but to scared to clean if this makes any sense, one of my regrets, are my fathers medals, whom died in the Chelsea Hospital, and they were apparently rhodium plated, to me they now look plastic!

Hello Ian,

A good question to which I think has no definite answer, a personal choice I would say.
Personally I will "clean" a medal that has that dull, dirty look.
If a medal is well toned I leave alone because I think this adds to the medals character, always like to keep the original ribbons attached if present.

Paul

Ian Brentnall wrote: I've been a collector of medals (not just QSA's & KSA's which is quite recent) for many years. Is it a good thing or bad thing to clean a medal once to make it look good?

I understand that some people say its better to leave it as is but these days in many of the leading auction houses, most of the medals look pretty clean to me.

Regards
Ian