Bouw van het Crystal Palace voor de internationale tentoonstelling van industrie te Londen, ter ere van Victoria, koningin van Groot-Britannie en Albert, prins van Saksen-Coburg-Gotha 1851

This medal, designed by Allen & Moore, commemorates the construction of the Crystal Palace for London’s 1851 Great Exhibition, and is made of struck silver. The medal's material is crucial to understanding its purpose: silver’s preciousness lent prestige to the event, while the striking process allowed for mass production and distribution. The medal shows the Crystal Palace, an extraordinary glass and iron structure designed by Joseph Paxton, and on the reverse, the exhibition's vital statistics. This was a monument to industrial production, and the medal’s imagery reflects this context. The Crystal Palace was intended to show the ingenuity of mass production, and the medal itself is a product of this system. By considering the materials and the methods used to make this medal, we can think about the cultural and social values of the time, challenging conventional distinctions between art, design, and manufacturing.