Malcolm Appleby MBE FRSE (b. 1946) was born in Beckenham, Kent. He studied at Beckenham School of Art From 1961 before continuing his training at four further art schools, completing his formal education at the Royal College of Art (1966-68), where he engraved his first die. A significant early milestone in his medallic career came with the 1973 exhibition Medals Today, curated by Graham Hughes at Goldsmiths’ Hall. The exhibition marked a concerted effort by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths to champion contemporary medal making and featured eight of Appleby’s works, including Birds of Destiny and Human Butterfly. Since then, he has sustained a distinguished practice in medallic art spanning more than five decades. In recognition of his contribution to the field, he was awarded the BAMS Presidents’ Medal in 2025.

About his medal, he writes: ‘For many years I have engraved small tool steel dies that can be used for multiple purposes – for medals, buttons, pendants, cufflinks, tumbler bowls or bangles. There are now more than one hundred of these dies in my archive. I used some of them to make A Medley of Medallettes. One of my methods is to strike the dies in lead during the process of engraving them, as a “progress report”, and then cast them in silver. The medal is a “medley” of these small medals, which have been freely struck in lead and then cast in bronze, creating a vigorous, textural surface that fits the hand and is tactile.’