Enamel Damage

[VasOnARitz]

Just this night I decided to look at my medals, one being the 20 Years of Impeccable Service, only to be given the results...




Needless to say, this was quite a heartbrake but gladly it was not a higher honourable medal.

The question is how it could have happened? It was certainly not dropped, or sustained any force that could have broken it... Could it possibly be poor storage or anything else? I keep it in a box, with some towels to separate each medal. It is nowhere near any heat sources so it confuses me greatly.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. I see the plastic pouches medals can sometimes be in, are they good to store medals? I have also seen flat cases which store 12 medals, but they seem quite cheap.

[Marcel Banziger]

I store the bulk of my medals in Ryker cases. They're completely safe and dustfree. My orders I store in display cabinets. Never had any issues.
And with the damage you have; I can't imagine this happens by itself. Enamel is strong, like glass. But when dropped or touched wrong, and pressure on the wrong spot it can break.

My advice, use Ryker cases (or anything similar).

Edit: I would NEVER use these plastic pouches. These always have contactpoints with medals which will show after a long time. As said, Ryker cases is the way to go.

[Leaftree]

I haven't seen this happen before on impeccable service medals. I would agree with Marcel that it could be from poor handling- before you and maybe finally flaked off. Could also be poor application of the enamel at manufacture. Doing a quick search, apparently enameling brass is rather difficult.

[VasOnARitz]

Okay, thank you very much for this information! I check these Ryker cases and they look like they are absolutely perfect.

Quite a surprise that brass and enamel is a tough match. I'll check out some replacements, and make sure to be extra careful with such awards like this.

[meyerse]

I store the bulk of my medals in Ryker cases. They're completely safe and dustfree. My orders I store in display cabinets. Never had any issues.
And with the damage you have; I can't imagine this happens by itself. Enamel is strong, like glass. But when dropped or touched wrong, and pressure on the wrong spot it can break.

My advice, use Ryker cases (or anything similar).

Edit: I would NEVER use these plastic pouches. These always have contactpoints with medals which will show after a long time. As said, Ryker cases is the way to go.

even mylar? That is what they make high end coin slips out of (the soft kind are not for long time storage).