How old is my Medal?

There are a couple of ways of estimating the age of a medal. Usually the best way is to look at the obverse (front) of the medal - at the bust of the reigning Monarch. Unfortunately this only works with commonwealth medals and those countries with a royal family. The second way is to look at the reverse (back) of the medal and relate the medal to a certain event - not as easy, but is quite achievable.
Another method is to look at the medal ribbon, see my ribbon table, however this is not 100% foolproof as sometimes the incorrect ribbon is put with the medal.
Below is a table showing which head of the Reigning Monarch is found with which time period, for the United Kingdom and commonwealth medals:

Victoria - Veiled Head	Victoria	George V - Field Marshal
George V - Coronation Robes	George V - Coinage Profile	George VI 1937-48
George VI 1937-48	Elizabeth II 1953-54	Elizabeth II 1954-80
Elizabeth II 1980-

  As you can see the Obverse of the medal will give you the reigning monarch - and sometimes the period of the monarch. The British monarchs have reigned as thus:

Victoria 1837 - 1901

Edward VII 1901 - 1910

George V 1910 - 1936

Edward VIII 1936 - Abdicated

George VI 1936 - 1952

Elizabeth II 1952 - present