How to Display Medals

Co-authored by Raymond Chiu

Last Updated: March 31, 2023

Whether you've earned a collection of sports, contest, or military medals, you may be interested in sharing your accomplishments with your friends and acquaintances. After all, your medals likely symbolize many hours of hard work and sacrifice and they deserve to have a special place in your home or office! If you have some medals you'd like to display, there are several creative options for showing off your prizes with style.

Things You Should Know

Use a display shelf with hanging hooks. Hang medals with ribbons on the hooks and place other medals on the display shelf.
Arrange ribbon medals in a shadow box and pin the medals to the shadow box backing.
Display ribbon medals in a military coin case. Remove the ribbons first or simply tuck them behind the medals in the case.
Remove any ribbons or pins. Arrange the medals in an interesting display and hot glue them to the fabric-covered backing of a picture frame.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Hanging Your Medals

1
Hang your medals from a display shelf with hanging hooks. Purchase a display shelf with hanging hooks that are attached to a wooden strip that runs underneath the length of the shelf. Medals with ribbons can be hung from the hooks, while medals that cannot be hung can be placed on the above shelf. Many big-box and online stores sell these, calling them wall shelves with coat hooks.
- If your shelf is large and somewhat heavy, you may consider using screws and plastic drywall anchors to hang it instead of nails.
- Consider how you'd like to display your medals that can't be hung from the hooks. Framing your medals or purchasing display stands could be a good option.
- Construct your own hanging shelf by screwing small hooks into the bottom of a wooden shelf. These hooks are small and can be attached by hand.
2
Construct a wall hanging with a sports item. Drive nails directly into the handles of wooden items such as baseball bats or hockey sticks and hang them from the wall with picture hooks. Tie a string around both ends of metal objects such as golf clubs or tennis rackets, and hang the string on a picture hanger nailed into the wall. Slide the ribbons attached to your medals onto the sports equipment now hanging from your wall to create an interesting display!
- You can either hang the medals directly from wooden objects like baseball bats, or you can purchase small hooks that screw easily into wood by hand. These hooks can be found at most hardware stores.
- Cycling medals can even be displayed by hanging them from a tire rim that has been affixed to a wooden plank and hung from the wall!
- Tie medal ribbons to the blades of ice skates and hang them on the wall by the laces from a picture hook.
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3
Repurpose a common household object to create a medal hanger. Take an unexpected household object such as the railing from an old baby crib and convert it into a stylish, low-cost place to hang your medals. Hang the crib from the wall so that the bars run horizontally using wall hooks, like the kind that you might find on your bathroom door holding your towels. These can be screwed directly into doors and walls with a power drill. Tie the medals to the rungs of the crib railing.
- To add extra visual interest, consider painting the crib railing or hanging your medals at varying heights to create a unique pattern.
- Convert a tie rack to a medal hanger. The small hooks attached to the wood double perfectly as hooks from which to hang medals!
- Replace your Christmas tree ornaments with medals during the holidays. This can be a fun and creative way to display medals in an unexpected way!

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Encasing Your Medals in Glass

1
Arrange your medals in a shadow box. Purchase a shadow box from a craft store. Pin your medals to the shadow box backing, which is typically covered in a velvet-like fabric, using the pins attached to the medals or with small, straight pins that are typically used in sewing. Shadow boxes are the best display option for military medals or similar medals, which are pinned rather than hung by a ribbon.
- Avoid using glue or staples, which can damage valuable military medals.
- Shadow boxes are also a great way to physically protect and preserve your medals.
- Consider following military protocol when arranging military medals in your shadow box. Medals that denote the highest honors are typically placed in the top left corner. ^{[1]
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2
Show off your medals inside a glass jar. Purchase a large glass jar with a lid. Arrange your medals inside of the jar so that they face outward. If the medals are attached to long ribbons, gather the ribbons together and pull them to the center of the jar as you continue to layer your medals along the inside of the glass.^{[2]
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- This is a great option if you'd prefer not to hang your medals. The jar can be conveniently placed on a table or bookshelf.
- Consider adding a string of battery operated LED lights to your jar to light up your display! You can purchase these lights at stores such as Target in the home décor section.
3
Display your medals in a military coin case. Purchase a military coin case from a craft store such as Michael's or online from stores like Amazon. You can place your medals on the shelves that line the inside of the case.
- If your medals are attached to ribbons, you can remove them or simply tuck them behind the medals.
- Coin cases are covered by glass and will protect your medals from dust!
- Consider arranging your medals by color or size in order to create an organized display.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Creating a Framed Medal Collage

1
Disassemble the medals you would like to display. Gather your medals and begin disassembling the ones you would like to display by removing any ribbons or pins that are attached. You will need to create a flat surface on the reverse side of the medal that can be easily attached to your frame board.^{[3]
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- Consider removing plaques from trophies with a flathead screwdriver to include in your collage. This is a nice way to display trophies in a compact way that doesn't require shelf space.
- Only include medals that you don't mind altering. You may not want to remove ribbons or pins from military medals that have historical value.
2
Purchase a large frame and cover the backing with fabric. Remove the cardboard or wood back of the frame. Wrap the frame backing with a sturdy craft fabric such as burlap or canvas, carefully folding the edges over the corners of the board. Use staples or a hot glue gun to attach the fabric to the frame backing.
- You can also repurpose an old frame that you may have lying around the house. You won't need the glass front of the frame, so you can discard it.
- Consider painting your frame to match your medals or the walls in your house.
- After the frame backing has been covered with fabric, reattach it to the frame.
3
Arrange your medals and attach them with hot glue. Place your medals on the fabric-covered surface of your frame in an interesting pattern. Plug in your hot glue gun, insert a glue stick and allow it to heat up. After about 10 minutes, your glue gun is ready to use. Apply glue to the back of the medals, flip them over, then press firmly for a few minutes to allow the glue to set.
- Be very careful when using the hot glue gun, as it can get very hot! You can accidentally burn yourself if you touch the tip of the gun or the glue.
- Place a paper plate or sheet of newspaper under the glue gun to protect your table while you are working.
- Once you've finished attaching your medals, allow the glue to dry and set completely, then hang your new medal collage in a special spot!

Expert Q&A

Question

How do you organize medals?

Raymond Chiu
House Cleaning Professional
Raymond Chiu is the Director of Operations for MaidSailors.com, a residential and commercial cleaning service based in New York City that provides home and office cleaning services at affordable prices. He has a Bachelors in Business Administration and Management from Baruch College.

Raymond Chiu

House Cleaning Professional

Expert Answer

Decide where you want to display the medals, such as a wall space, display case, or a rack. It can help to group similar medals together by type, as well as using a box, hanger, or pouch to store them. With more medals, you may need to prioritize the ones that hold more value or accomplishment.
Question

What if I don't have any medals?

Bea23249

Community Answer

If you want medals to display and you aren't part of a team or group, get involved in one. If you are already part of one, get medals by competing. If you don't want or need medals to display, you can always just keep your life the same.