The Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 1977 to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of Elizabeth II's accession to the throne on 6th February, 1977.

The medal was awarded at the discretion of the local government and issued to members of the British government and Commonwealth including those people involved in trade, local services, entertainment, sports, the arts and volunteer workers. 30,000 were distributed in Britain, 1,507 in New Zealand, 6,870 in Australia, and 30,000 in Canada.

The medal like all other Coronation/jubilee medals issued after 1887 has been classified as an official medal to be worn after gallantry and campaign medals, but before all decorations and medals for efficiency and long service.

Description:

Materials: The majority of the British medals and clasps are made of solid silver, though some were issue in bronze versions, mainly to Indian non-combatants. The majority of the British campaign awards are circular, usually 36mm in diameter.

Ribbons: Medals are worn suspended from their own specific ribbons. These were first made of silk but cotton was increasingly used as the nineteenth century developed. Their own colours often have a symbolic significance: the equal stripes of the ‘1939 to 1945 Star,’ for example, are dark blue to represent the service of the Royal and Merchant Navies, red, to represent that of the Armies and light blue to represent that of Air Forces.

Ribbon width can vary slightly though it is generally 32mm wide.

Ribbon – White with thin red stripes at the edges, a broad blue stripe in the centre and a thin red stripe down the middle of it

Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal (1977) ribbon

Type – Commemoration medal

Suspender - Ring

Eligibility – Commonwealth citizens

Awarded for – Community contribution

Established – 6th February, 1977

Designer – Mr David Wynne

Total Awarded – 68,377

Clasps – None awarded

Description – A circular silver medal 32mm in diameter. The obverse features a right facing profile of Queen Elizabeth II wearing the high Imperial State Crown and the wording “ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA FID. DEF” On the reverse of the medal there is a wreath of silver-birch foliage and catkins, with the St Edward’s crown on the top of the medal and the centre has the wording “THE 25th YEAR OF THE REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH II 6 FEBRUARY 1977” on six lines. Note that there is a distinctive reverse for issue in Canada as the medal was slightly thicker, the crown on the Queen's effigy was more upright, and the reverse bore a stylised maple leaf with “CANADA” above and the Royal Cypher below

This guide will help you through all the parts and descriptions of military medals

Sources:

Major L L Gordon ‘British Battles and Medals’

Medal Year Book 2006

< gov.uk/medals-campaigns-descriptions-and-eligibility >

Some of the material on this page was also partially derived from

<en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Queen_Elizabeth_II_Silver_Jubilee_Medal >

Which are released under the terms of

Creativecommons.org/licenses/by-s/3.0/.