1851 London Expo's medallion present in Shanghai

Thanks to a private collector from Shanghai, a medallion from the first World Expo in London in 1851 will appear at the 2010 session of the great event. Even the 75-year-old collector is not sure how the medal travelled from London to Shanghai over the past century.

Shanghai native Tang Deshun is a loyal collector of world expo medals. The star of his collection is no doubt this medallion from the first World's Fair.

Thanks to a private collector from Shanghai, a medallion from the first World  Expo in London in 1851 will appear at the 2010 session of the great event.

If the medal could talk, it no doubt would have many stories to tell. Today, we can still clearly see the portrait of Queen Victoria and her consort Prince Albert on one side. "The Great Exhibition" was organized by Henry Cole and Prince Albert. It was attended by more than 14,000 exhibitors and numerous notable figures of the time including Charles Darwin and writers Charlotte Bronte and George Eliot.

While the other side of the medal is the famous cast-iron and glass building Crystal Palace. It was where the exhibition was held to display examples of the latest technology developed in the Industrial Revolution.

Today, there are much more varieties of medals at the World Expo. And those small souvenirs will be carried by tens of thousands of visitors to the rest of the world, spreading the spirit of the great event between human beings.