The 70 medals here come from the Silver Arrow competition, which was shot for most years between 1618 and 1754.
The competition took place between students of St Salvator’s and St Leonard’s until the two colleges united in 1747, after which all the participants belonged to the United College.
Some of the winners of the archery contest would go on to play key roles in Scottish politics.
You might think that the medals were awarded to the winners, but you’d be wrong. Instead, the winner commissioned and paid for his own medal.
It sounds rather unfair, but it allowed the student to show off his prowess and to have the honour that went with victory recognised.
Each year all the medals were hung from the three silver arrows on display here and paraded down to the Bow Butts, which is close to the modern location of the Clubhouse of the Royal and Ancient Golf Course.
The winner also kept the silver arrow until the following year’s event.
Over time the medals were made bigger and bigger as the triumphant hoped to show their wealth and importance by spending more on increasingly elaborate decoration.
If you walk around to the other side of the display you will see that they increase in size until 1710, when each medal becomes uniform. Why is this the case?
Well, imagine you are a poor student. You may well be put off taking part in the competition for fear that you won’t be able to afford a large, impressive medal.
A smaller medal among the large ones could cause your family to be dishonoured. A limit of one ounce was therefore placed on the amount of silver that winners were allowed to use for their medal, consequently all the later ones are of a similar size.
Most of the medals have the winner’s coat of arms on one side and an archer posing fancifully with his bow and arrow on the other. Some of the engravings are quite amusing.
How easy do you think it would be to fire a bow while standing cross-legged and wearing a large hat, as in number 39?
You can find out more about each of the medals and take part in the competition yourself using the computer terminal beside the display.
When you are ready to continue the tour, enter Gallery 3, stand in front of the Great Astrolabe.