Welded-Loop Medal of Preceptor Itthi Bhaddacaro — 60th Birthday, Wat Chulamanee, B.E. 2559 (2016)

The Welded-Loop Medal of Preceptor Itthi Bhaddacaro, 60th Birthday was created on the occasion of Luang Pho Itthi Bhaddacaro, abbot of Wat Chulamanee, reaching the age of 60 in the Buddhist year B.E. 2559 (2016 CE). His disciples together created it under the theme “Disciples create it in gratitude for their teacher’s kindness,” carried out by Wat Chulamanee, Bang Chang Subdistrict, Amphawa District, Samut Songkhram Province.

This edition was made in the “welded-loop” form, which according to the temple’s concept continues the medal design descended from the welded-loop medal of Preceptor Khong of B.E. 2484 — a widely renowned medal of the Mae Klong region.

The Meaning of the “Welded-Loop Medal”

According to the commemorative chronicle of the making, a “welded-loop medal” is one whose suspension loop is welded onto the medal itself — the style of the old master-monks’ medals of the Mae Klong region (such as those of Luang Pho Phlai of Wat Bang Khae Klang and Luang Pu Chai), which favored welding the loop firmly in place rather than mounting the medal in a frame. The temple thus carries on this old tradition of making.

Moreover, the welded loop holds a symbolic meaning: the portrait medal of Luang Pho stands for the “father,” and the loop bound to it for the “child” (the disciples) — as in the saying, “just as a father never forsakes his child, so the medal and its loop are never parted.” It signifies the loving-kindness Luang Pho holds for his disciples.

Appearance of the Medal

• Front: a half-length portrait of Luang Pho Itthi. Around the rim are the letters “Wat Chulamanee · 60 Years of Age” and the name “Preceptor Itthi Bhaddacaro.”

• Back: a yantra, with the words “Lāp Phon Phun Thawi” (fortune, fruits, ever-multiplying) above, encircled by the syllables of the Nine Virtues of the Sangha, together with the words “Disciples create it in gratitude for their teacher’s kindness.”

Every material bears a serial number and the edition’s stamped marks — the “Dek Loeng” code and the “Unalom” code — placed in various positions according to each material.

The Sacred Consecrated Alloy and Its Making

This edition was made from the old consecrated alloy that Luang Pho Itthi gathered over more than 30 years, together with the alloy of every amulet edition Wat Chulamanee has produced, blended with the sacred alloy of Luang Pho Khong of Wat Bang Kaphom and Luang Pho Nuang of Wat Chulamanee.

Among all the materials, the “maha-chanuan sacred alloy” is the most special, being fused from the casting sprues of the sacred images of over a thousand master-monks’ lineages — yantra plates, medals, cast figures, and votive images — giving it a hue unlike any ordinary medal and making it the hardest of all to strike. The “lead material,” meanwhile, was made from the lead casting-alloy of the renowned Tao Wessuwan Champi-pattern medal of B.E. 2545, weighing about 28.5 kilograms.

Materials and Numbers Minted

This edition was minted in several materials, as announced by the temple, together with their initial reverence prices:

• Pure gold with red rachawadi enamel — serially numbered, approx. 21 grams; minted to the number reserved; reverence price 47,000 baht

• Pure gold — serially numbered, approx. 21 grams; minted to the number reserved; reverence price 45,000 baht

• Pure silver with red rachawadi enamel, gold-plated image — serially numbered; 79 medals; reverence price 7,500 baht

• Pure silver with red rachawadi enamel and enamelled robe — serially numbered; 300 medals; reverence price 2,000 baht

• Pure silver — serially numbered; 300 medals; reverence price 1,500 baht

• Full-formula nawaloha (nine-metal alloy), gold-rich — serially numbered; 500 medals; reverence price 800 baht

• Maha-chanuan sacred alloy (welded loop) — serially numbered; 2,000 medals; reverence price 300 baht

• Blackened copper (integral loop) — 3,000 medals, distributed freely on 1 August B.E. 2559

• Maha-chanuan gilt with gold, stamped with the code-mark 5 times — 200 medals, offered to the monks who kept the rains-retreat at Wat Chulamanee during the year B.E. 2559

• Untrimmed-flash lead — 309 medals, made as khwan-thung blessing coins

Consecration Rite

This edition was consecrated in two great auspicious sessions on Saturday 30 July of the Buddhist year B.E. 2559, at the ceremonial ground of Wat Chulamanee: the first, the “Devābhiṣeka of the maha-chanuan alloy,” and the second, the “grand Buddhābhiṣeka–Maṅgalābhiṣeka of auspicious victory,” with senior master-monks seated in meditative empowerment throughout the rite.

Once the rite was complete, Luang Pho Itthi presided over the stamping of the dies. Later, on Monday 1 August B.E. 2559 — the merit-making day marking his 60th birthday — Luang Pho distributed 3,000 blackened-copper welded-loop medals as a gift of great merit.

Reverence Prices and Reservation (temple documents, B.E. 2559)

Wat Chulamanee opened reservations for this edition directly during the Buddhist year B.E. 2559. The reverence prices, reservation schedule, and ordering details for each material followed the temple’s own announcement, as shown in the documents below — the table of materials and reverence prices, the reservation form, the publicity poster, the details for postal ordering, and the ceremony’s auspicious-time chart. Reservations were made directly with the temple.

Gallery of the Various Materials

Commemorative Chronicle of the Making

Wat Chulamanee produced a commemorative chronicle of the making of the Welded-Loop Medal, Edition 1, recording in full its history, the grand Buddhābhiṣeka rite, the sacred consecrated alloy, and the details of each material, as shown below.

Note: This account is compiled from the production information published by Wat Chulamanee, to record the history of this edition, and is not intended for any commercial purpose whatsoever.