Medal
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A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be intended to be worn, suspended from clothing or jewellery in some way, although this has not always been the case. They may be struck like a coin by dies or die-cast in a mould.
Obverse of medal distributed by Cecilia Gonzaga's family to political allies, a common practice in Renaissance Europe. Designed by Pisanello in 1448.
Reverse of the same medal, this copy with a suspension hole added later (inside a crescent moon in the design).
Medal depicting Herbert C. Hoover by Devreese Godefroi
Various prize medals with obverse designs, suspension rings and ribbons typical of medals intended to be draped over the head and hung from the neck
Emblem
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An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a monarch or saint.
House of the Prince of Naples in Pompeii Triclinium Emblem on North Wall
"The big eat the small", a political emblem from an emblem book, 1617