Assorted medals from various exhibitions and festivals

• Gilding - Gilding is a method of ornamentation whereby a thin sheet of gold metal is applied to items made of wood, leather, ceramics, glass and silver for decorative purposes.
  
  For furniture including mirrors, the sheet of gold is usually applied over a coating of gesso. Gesso is a mixture of plaster of Paris and gypsum mixed with water and then applied to the carved wooden frames of mirrors and picture frames as a base for applying the gold leaf. After numerous coats of gesso have been applied, allowed to dry and then sanded a coat of "bole", a usually red coloured mixture of clay and glue is brushed on and allowed to dry, after which the gold leaf is applied. Over time parts of the gilding will rub off so the base colour can be seen. In water gilding, this was generally a blue colour, while in oil gilding, the under layer was often yellow. In Victorian times, gilders frequently used red as a pigment beneath the gold leaf.
  
  Metal was often gilded by a process known as fire gilding. Gold mixed with mercury was applied and heated, causing the mercury to evaporate, the long-term effect of which was to kill or disable the craftsman or woman from mercury poisoning. The pursuit of beauty has claimed many victims, not the least of which were the artists who made those pieces so highly sought after today.
• Art Union of London - Art Unions were organisations that functioned to promote and fund works of art. The members would pay an annual subscription, which would be used to purchase works of art, and these would then be distributed among its members by means of a ballot.
  
  The Art Union of London was established in 1837 and by the 1840s was distributing art to the value of £9,000 each year.
  
  The works purchased ranged from paintings which had been exhibited at the Royal Academy and in galleries to prints and smaller pieces including commissioned Parian wares, medals and bronze statuettes.
  
  The membership numbers of the Art Union of London remained strong until the 1890s when they began to decline, and the Union was wound up in 1912.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• exhibitions, exhibits and memorabilia
  • Colonial and Indian Exhibition, London, 1886 7
  • Great Exhibition of 1851, London 69
• medals and medallions - national and international exhibitions and expositions 129