As early as 1910 the Boy Scouts awarded medals for contests and competitions testing physical fitness, pioneering skills, and other Scouting related challenges. There are several types of Medals that were used at different periods and they can be found with many different activities and contests, as well as some medals that could be engraved for special events. Listed below are some types of Medals you might encounter, though it is not exhaustive.

There are three main types that you’ll likely encounter if you collect Contest Medals, there are a couple newer types that are quite common and easy to find that are not covered.

Dieges & Clust Scout Competition and Contest Medals
1914-1928

Identification: These medals have a red, white, and blue ribbon and a medal that can be found in bronze, silver, or gold. The medal is usually scalloped or organically shaped with pleasing curves. The earliest and rarest medals date from 1914-1920 and they had a ribbon and medallion, as the later versions did, but also had a drape ribbon behind. These medals can most easily be identified by the Dieges & Clust hallmark on the back of the medal, there several hallmarks you might see shown below, click an image for a larger picture.

Dieges & Clust Hallmarks

Dieges & Clust Medal Designs

There are 11 designs we are aware of that were produced in this style of medal, they are listed below. You can click on the links to see an example of each design. Keep in mind that many of these will have been engraved on the back. Additionally, all of these can be found in gold, silver, and bronze metals.

Octagonal Pendant Scout Medals with Red, White, & Blue Ribbon
1928-1932

Identification: These medals have a red, white, and blue ribbon and a medal that can be found in bronze, silver, or gold. The medal is octagonal and has a Scout Logo on the back, which can be seen in the hallmark example below. These medals date to 1928-1932, the pendants are nearly identical to the medals that date to 1933-54, so beware of pendants which are missing the ribbon, which is the way to distinguish between the two.

Scout Logo Hallmark

Click on the thumbnail to see a larger version of this mark. It is a First Class Emblem inside a circle with the text that reads “Boy Scouts of America Headquarters New York City”. This logo is found on the back of every one of these medals I’ve ever seen, but I have also been told that some medals do not have the logo on it.

Octagonal Boy Scout Medals with Red, White, & Blue Ribbon Designs

There are 19 medal designs that are documented for this series of medals. For medals that we have an image of you can click on the links below to see what those designs look like, those without links we don’t have images for at this time. Keep in mind that you can find these same designs on the next series of medals, so for those you can see some of the designs we don’t have for this series.

Octagonal Pendant Scout Medals with Solid Blue / Purple Ribbon
1933-1954

Identification: These medals have a solid blue ribbon that can look purple if its been washed or faded. The medal itself can be found in bronze, silver, or gold. The medal is octagonal and has a Scout Logo on the back, which can be seen in the hallmark example listed with the category above. These medals date to 1933-1954, the pendants are nearly identical to the medals that date to 1928-1932, so beware of pendants which are missing the ribbon, which is the way to distinguish between the two.

Octagonal Boy Scout Medals with Solid Blue Ribbon Designs

There are 22 medal designs that are documented for this series of medals, which is 3 more than the previous series. The three new medals are a second version for Signaling and Wall Scaling, and a medal for Swimming which is found only with the Blue ribbon. For medals that we have an image of you can click on the links below to see what those designs look like, those without links we don’t have images for at this time. Keep in mind that you can find most of these same designs on the previous series of medals, so for those you can see some of the designs we don’t have for this series.

Other Medal Types