The obverse bears founder's bust left. Above, ROBERT WALLACE; below to left and right, 1815 - 1892; signed (GL monogram) in right field.
The reverse shows factory in upper center with single family house below. Above, 1935; across center, 100 YEARS OF PROGRESS; in exergue, WALLACE SILVER / 1835
The medal is edge-marked ROBBINS CO / ATTLEBORO - GENUINE / BRONZE.
The founder of Wallace Silversmiths, Robert Wallace was born in Prospect, Connecticut on November 13, 1815. He learned the silversmith trade and started a small business whose only product was spoons. One day, while shopping in New York City, Wallace happened upon a piece of cutlery made of a nickel alloy called German silver that had been produced by Dixon and Sons of Sheffield, England. Impressed by the quality and strength of the piece, Wallace bought the formula from the German chemist Dr. Louis Feuchtwanger who had a small bar of that metal from Germany for the then unheard sum of $20 and went on to build these new nickel silver spoons. Later he found a man who had brought the recipe for making the metal. Wallace purchased that too. In his factory, he then compounded the first German silver made in America and pioneered the new industry.
Wallace moved his company from Cheshire to Wallingford and increased production. Over the decades, the business grew tremendously and by 1935 it was mass-producing cutlery at an astonishing speed.
The medal measures 73mm (2 7/8in) and was struck in bronze by the Robbins Company of Attleboro, Massachusetts.