A vast field, covering many eras and countries. Specialist reference books on every period and country can be found. One book - Price Guide: Orders and Decorations, Germany 1871-1945 by Detlev Niemann (2004) - is highly recommended (I have several in stock at ?50 each plus postage).

This is the classic pair of campaign awards for WW2; indeed, other than the India Service Medal and the War Medal in silver for the Canadians, they were the only circular medals issued by the British Empire in WW2.

This is the third grade of precious metal gallantry awards of the old Austrian army. The first was a large medal in gold, followed by a large one in silver, this one being the third class, a smaller one in silver. It has the name of the artist (Tautenhayn) under the right shoulder of the emperor (Franz Joseph).

This is the small (3.30cm diameter) KuK bravery medal with Kaiser Franz Joseph's bust on the obverse and 'Der Tapferkeit' on the reverse. Apart from the ribbon being that for the wound medal, it is almost certainly a contemporary tailor's copy, as it lacks the designer's name, which should be under the bust.

Struck in bronze with a Latin logo ('Sapientiae Studii Viennensis') surrounding an image of a queen in a Renaissance window. The reverse has the logo 'Zur // Erinnerung // An das // Kriegsjahr // 1914', all above a laurel wreath.

This nice medal, with a view of Edinburgh city surmounted by the castle on the reverse with the motto 'The Westerns / 23rd November 1803' on the obverse, was awarded as a commemorative item to an infantry volunteer unit raised at the termination of the peace of Amiens (1802) between France and GB in 1803.

This is the lowest grade of this prestigious order, Russia's principle gallantry award from the time of the Napoleonic Wars until the 1917 revolution. It shows the image of Nicholas II on the face and on the reverse 'For gallantry' is inscribed in Cyrillic, together with the class of the medal below the serial number.

This would have been mounted on a wooden plaque, hence the holes at the corners. The design is taken from the Nazi era award, whose main difference is a capital 'R' directly under the middle feet of the horse.

This could well be a ground find, or perhaps dug out of someone's attic, because only maybe 25% of the original gilt finish survives. However, it has the number 74 punched into the ring, which indicates the maker Carl Meurer & Sohn from Oberstein. These crosses rarely have any maker's mark, which makes up somewhat for the condition.

This award was granted to other ranks for meritorious service in the years before WW1 and in the early stages. There were two sizes of gold and two of silver, of which this is the smaller version of the latter (3.1cm diameter).

This die-struck bronze medal (diameter 50mm) is dated 4 May 1883 and is the joint athletics medal for Woolwich and Sandhurst Military Academies. Woolwich was the academy for the Royal Artillery and Sandhurst for the infantry and cavalry.