How To Display Medals?

[jorgelito]

I want to display some of the medals I have won from various athletic events but have no idea how. At the moment, I have a couple just hanging from a nail on the wall and it looks stupid. Is there a better way to display a medal? In a case? Fold the ribbon then hang? Also, is there a way to protect it from the elements? I am tempted to just let Aaron Brother's take care of it, but part of the fun is DIY.

Thanks.

[Willravel]

I purchased a wood cabinet with glass casing for mine. The idea is to kinda let it act as a part of your overall look. If you have oak furniture, display them in oak. You don't want them to stick out, just to be shown tastefully. Within the case, it depends on the prize. If you have those tall things with some jerk on top, just sit them. If you have medals that are placed around the neck, one can lay them or our hang them. I just let them sit, while propped by their lanyard. Ribbons should be tacked in to something.

[Plan9]

You could do the same thing that I did with my military medals:

Put them in a Ziploc bag and remember that you did well once in life.

...

Just about any decent crafts store will have nice felt and frames for this activity.

[jorgelito]

Thanks for the input guys but on this topic I sit somewhere south of "smart" Ivdon't know what lanyard is). Could you dumb it down a bit and/or maybe provide a picture.

I would like to hang it on the wall but not just hang it from a nail. I feel the ribbon thingy makes it too long. Especially since I would like to hang multiple medals. Also, will the air damage (oxidize) the medal part over time and hot do I protect it?

Thanks.

[Willravel]

Lanyard is the necklace of fabric that holds a metal (or name-tag or whatever).

[xepherys]

The air WILL oxidize it over time, but depending on the metal, this may be a very long time. i wouldn't worry much about that as you can always clean them if they start to patina.

[thebeat]

We actually have a china cabinent, but no china, so that what I used.

[Cynthetiq]

some people do this

[jorgelito]

Yeah, Cyn, that display is pretty sweet, my grandpa has one like that for all his WWII medals.

My medals are more like the athletic ones. Round medal attached to a lanyard.

[Cyborg Ninja]

A display like Cynthetiq's example is best, at least for ribbons and medals. And then you'd put it up on the wall, so it's a good idea.

Willravel's idea is also good and what came to my mind at first. Glass is good, or you can also try acrylic. I haven't found anything that cheap yet. Again like Willravel said, you can get a nice piece of oak furniture that opens up, called an armoire, that is mostly nowadays used as entertainment centers. It can have extra room in it for you to display what you have.

If you don't have enough money right now, you can try using anchors and hanging things on them. They easily screw into drywall. Of course, you'd have a lot of holes in the wall afterward. You could also get a piece of wood, sand it down and finish it, add some nice, decorative curves and add your things to it. I imagine there's something you can screw or nail into the wood, and then hang your medals and ribbons on without damaging them by directly using nails.