To start with, the single best way to look after your medals and awards is to have them handled only by professionals. A professional medal mounter handles precious medals day in day out, and knows what works, what doesn't, and how to deal with any problems that may arise without causing any further damage.

At the end of the day, if you leave your medals in the hands of a 'hobby' or 'part time' medal mounter, don't expect a professional job, and don't whine about the result, you get exactly what you pay for!

Ok, lectures out of the way! Here is how we recommend you look after your medals. Some may disagree, but these methods work.

1) Try using a lint free cloth to gently rub your medals. You may be surprised to know that most of the build up on your medals is likely to be dust and grease. Simply wiping the medals over can clean most, if not all of that grime off.

2) The next thing you may want to try is using a dry cleaning cloth specially designed for cleaning jewellry. Most jewellers carry some type of dry cleaning cloth that is perfectly capable of restoring your medals to their former glory. Only the most damaged or tarnished medals will require specialist treatment. It is important to be careful with these cloths because they turn a grey colour which will rub off onto your ribbons, which cannot be removed - so be careful! it is also a good idea to wear some gloves so your fingers are spared the same fate.

3) If steps number one and two are unsuccessful, you are going to need your medals off their ribbons, so there is no going back now because you will need them remounted. You should call it quits and seek the services of a professional. Most professional medal mounters will clean your medals for free as part of the new mounting sequence.

So, now your medals are clean you want to keep them that way, and the easiest way to do that is to gently wipe them with a lint free cloth after any handling and store them in a medal case or other appropriate protective box or sleeve and keep them in a cool dry, secure place.

Now for the sales pitch - Foxhole Medals can supply both cleaning cloths and medal cases so use the contact page to find out more about them. Our last piece of advice is - if you want a professional job, leave it to the professionals, Foxhole Medals!