The Wallace Medal is awarded for outstanding contributions to Wallace scholarship or the public understanding of his life and work. There are silver and bronze versions.
Silver (left) and bronze (right) Wallace Medals. They measure 7.4cm x 6.1cm.
Medallists
On November 7th 2013 (the 100th anniversary of Wallace's death) framed silver medals were presented to Sir David Attenborough and Bill Bailey in recognition of their very important contributions to the public understanding of Wallace's life and work made during the anniversary year.
Origin of the Medal
The medal is a cast replica of an electrotype copy (probably made of silvered copper) of a scaled-down copy of a portrait medallion of Wallace dated 1906, by Albert Bruce-Joy (1842-1924), which was modelled from photographs and from life. The original electrotype may well have belonged to Wallace himself, and it is now owned by one of his descendants. More information about Bruce-Joy's portrait medallions of Wallace can be found HERE.
The Wallace Fund would like to thank the Wallace family for allowing a mould of their medal to be made; James Cranfield for arranging for it to be made; and Martin Hinchcliffe for aranging for a number of bronze and silver casts to be produced and for finishing them.