The best method of storing these treasures is to follow the plan adopted by coin-collectors, and to range them on trays in the shallow drawers of coin-cabinets. Where the pieces are few in number, it is a good plan to mount them on a board covered with black velvet, and to frame them just as one does a picture. To have no particular method of keeping them, to leave them lying loose in drawers, or to place them as casual ornaments in curio or china cabinets is decidedly wrong, for a few scratches, a fall, or a little rough handling will often reduce considerably the value of a specimen. For the benefit of the uninitiated, it may be well to mention that not only does the value of a medal depend upon its state of preservation--that is to say, whether it is in mint condition, slightly rubbed, much worn, scratched, battered, re-engraved, etc.--but also upon the number of clasps that go with it. It must not be thought that collectors tolerate the indiscriminate adding of clasps to claspless medals. A medal that was awarded with, say, one additional honour cannot be turned into a three-clasp decoration by purchasing two clasps from a dealer and placing them upon the slide ribbon. The medal in question, if it be less than a hundred years old, has the name of the original possessor engraved upon the flange, and by turning to the Medal Rolls the number of clasps issued with the particular decoration can be found. Another factor which affects the value of a medal is the regiment to which it was issued. A medal given to a private in a crack regiment will possess a greater value than an identical medal awarded to a private in a less noted one. The rank of the recipient is also taken into account; this, however, is perhaps only natural. [Illustration: ROYALIST BADGE WORN BY THE PARTISANS OF CHARLES I.] * * * * * Medals were known to the Ancients. The Greeks, for instance, have left behind them many interesting specimens which can still be seen in our public museums, but none of them were given as recompenses for military bravery. The ordinary soldier of these early days had no status, and therefore received no rewards, whilst the leaders were given crowns of laurel, bracelets, and neck chains of gold for the services they rendered. It was Queen Elizabeth who first thought of giving medals to British fighting men, and it was the crews of the ships which sailed out to meet the Armada that received them. The first medals to be given for military, as distinct from naval, honours were struck by Charles I. Probably the very earliest award made by this King was the medal presented to Sir Robert Welch, an officer in the Royalist Cavalry, whose bravery in recovering the standard from the Parliamentary forces at Edge Hill excited the admiration of every member in his party.