Storing campaign medals

Rachel Weatherall <rcw47 [at] cam__ac__uk> writes

>I am currently researching for a suitable method of storing a
>collection of approximately 400 campaign (war) medals made of gold,
>silver or copper alloy with silk ribbons attached.  I would be
>interested in anyone's experiences in re-housing a medal collection
>with conservation grade materials and the methods they used.  The
>collection is currently housed in clear PVC envelopes which,
>although not good from a conservation standing, means the silk is
>not put under as much pressure when handled and both sides of the
>medal can be viewed easily.

At our museum we store our military medals in PET
("Mylar"/"Melinex") coin holders which are a similar size to the PVC
envelopes that we used to use. They are a little stiffer than the
PVC envelopes and can crack if you are not careful, but otherwise
they work quite well.  We obtain our coin holders from

    E and T Kointainer Co.
    PO Box 103
    Sidney OH 45365
    937-394-4812
    <URL:http://www.vcoins.com/us/kointainer/store/dynamicIndex.asp>

I don't know if there is a distributor in the UK, but the website
mentions that they will ship overseas.

Heather Dumka
Conservator, Objects
Glenbow Museum
130 9th Avenue SE
Calgary AB T2G 0P3
Canada
403-268-4185


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 25:15
                Distributed: Tuesday, September 20, 2011
                       Message Id: cdl-25-15-012
                                  ***