Mounting and wearing
What are your options when it comes to wearing medals; yours or those of family members?
Needing your current medals mounted, or re-mounted? Medals, whether originals or replicas deserve to be mounted with military precision. Frankly the old Australian adage of ‘near enough is good enough’ has no place here; ‘near enough is just not good enough.’ We really do care. We can accurately mount your medals (all medals on the site here have a mounting option included in each description), in either swing or court (sometimes called Royal) mount style (which is demanded by the ADF and most other agencies, and preferred by most veterans).
Court Mounting. Swing Mounting, what’s the difference?
Swing mounting is where the medals are mounted in such a way that they are able to swing freely on the mounting bar (unseen from the front).
Court mounting is where the medals and their riband (ribbons) are fixed to a backing board so that they are rigid, and the riband can be easily seen behind the medal between the suspender and the top of the medal.
We provide a fast-turnaround mail service for medal mounting. Usually within 72 hours provided there are no rare medals that require hard-to-find riband to be sourced from overseas, or commemorative medals that are out of production and for which riband simply cannot be sourced.
If you are sending your medals, either originals or replicas to be mounted, re-mounted and/or restored and cleaned; please send them to us via registered post to avoid loss. If you are a currently serving member, then regulations specify that you must always send original medals and awards via registered post. We will return them via the same method. Just select the service/s your require, and when you get to the checkout page, just make a note in the comment section that you will be sending your medals – that way we’ll be able to cross-check at this end and ensure a fast turnaround for you.
As for mounting preference. The choice is yours; however we should point out that many of our clients prefer court mounting over swing mounting, to avoid damage and chipping, as well as pure aesthetics. In addition to that, full-size medals in excess in excess of five must be court mounted; we cannot swing mount more than five medals wide.
To mount more than one medal, please type the number of medals you need mounted to wear, in the quantity box. There is no price difference for mounting between court or swing mounting, or full-size and miniature-size medals. Price is per medal and includes light cleaning and new riband. Prior to checkout you can review the number of mountings and recalculate to have the computer tally the total for you.
Medal mounting discounts are available: Card-carrying members of the ADF, State and Federal Police and ESOs receive special discounts and priority level service on medal mounting. Discounts will be automatically applied to serving members using their work (defence or police) email address to register online. ESO members must quote their membership card or badge number and name of ESO in the instruction box at checkout. Your price will be adjusted prior to delivery and billing. Defence forwards medals by registered mail; and we prefer them sent and we return them the same way – when sending medals for mounting, please do not send boxes; they only add bulk and expense to shipments both ways – see the bottom of each page on the site or the ‘contact us’ page for address details.
Please Note: We are often asked to mount medals by ‘jury rigging’ with clutch pins that are not designed for the purpose. We can NOT comply with this request for two reasons. Firstly, the weight of medals will pull and tear light and medium fabric like poly shirts and jackets; and secondly, clutch pins are notoriously weak in both the pin posts that are soldered to the rack and the butterfly clips which often push through and cannot be easily removed. We are aware of several instances where tailors and base contractors have mounted medals with clutch pins and they have failed on parades.
IMPORTANT: We do NOT use mat (card) board as the backing for court mounting. Our light-weight polycarbonite base allows a solid yet semi-flexible backing but is waterproof and totally resistant to bugs like silverfish when stored. When it rains on your parade in future, your backing board will no longer cause your medal rack to become a soggy mess!
We really do care.
Can you wear a relative’s medals? Whilst there is no specific legislation on wearing the medals of a family member; over the years a custom has evolved for people to wear the awards of deceased family members when marching in their place at commemorative events such as ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day. The Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) encourages people to wear their forebears medals on the right breast, which indicates the awards are not their own. You can find out more on the RSL web site here.
Here are a couple of links you may also find helpful;
