Any idea what kind of metal this might be?

[Harper Abbot]

Not sure what is commonly used for these kinds of medals:
http://www.alathiagroup.com/junk/medal.jpg
Can it likely be marked with cermark?

[Viktor Voroncov]

In China they named this material
Process: Zinc alloy w/o coloring -
Plating: Antique silver without polishing

About Cermark - very depend from quality of material. I am working with good/not cheap supplier from China and their medals accept Cermark well. But sometimes customers bring me another products which looks same but engraved bad.

[Mike Null]

The process used here is called spin casting and the metal is called pot metal. I think Viktor may be right as to the composition but it is a rather soft metal cast at relatively low temperature.

[Martin Boekers]

I've been wanting to try a good durable paint on these type of products,
then laser through the paint to see how it works.

I'm surprised that one of the medal companies hasn't produced a line of
medals with the back painted for laser engraving.

You would think that with how many lasers out there that this may be
a good product to produce.


Marty

[Harper Abbot]

thanks for the insight, guys. Looked like it was likely generic "casting metal" to me, but I'm so new into this biz that I didn't know what's in use.

[Richard Rumancik]

Harper, the most common metals used are probably zinc and pewter. I couldn't say which one is is as they look somewhat similar. One of the larger NA companies that make medals is AT Designs (atdesigns.com). I think they tend to use primarily pewter but it is unclear to me what they use for their die cast products. If you go to their website you can see what the colors look like.

Here's a link that explains the differences between pewter and zinc medals:
http://www.acerecognition.com/metals/default.aspx

As far as Cermark - I don't know if it would work on either zinc or pewter. Maybe contact the tech services dept for advice.

[Doug Griffith]

The process used here is called spin casting

One of these days... http://www.tekcast.com

[Rodne Gold]

There are medals available with a lasererable back , we get ours from Biemans , www.biemans.com (http://www.biemans.com) , a big european wholesaler.
I spin cast my own medals , but it depends on the plating whether they either cermarkable or scratch engraveable , far easier is to make a flexibrass or rowmark light disc for the backs. The cheaper medals are cheaply plated and thus are unengraveable (Our cheapy gold is actually brass plated and then dipped in a laquer)