The die-engraver Benedetto Pistrucci worked off an on for thirty three years on the dies for a medal commemorating the victory of the allies over Napoleon at Waterloo on 18 June 1815, but the dies were unfinished at his death. Because of the large size of the dies, fear of breaking them during the hardening prevented that operation from being performed, so the dies cannot be used in a medal press. The British Museum did produce electrotypes from the dies in both copper and silver, and most of the illustrations of this article are made from one of the silver copies. The pictures of the entire medal, however, are from a John Pinches Ltd. medal, the dies of which were made by a mechanical reduction from the original five and one half inch diameter to about two and one half inches.

Obverse of Pinches version.

Reverse of Pinches version.