This iron medal, with a diameter of 29.5 mm, was produced at the workshop of Stephano Johnson in Milan by an unknown designer. The medal was made in celebration of the campaign L’Oro alla Patria (Gold to the Fatherland) of 1935, where Italians were encouraged to donate their gold to battle the sanctions imposed on Italy because of its invasion of Ethiopia. Wedding rings were especially sought after, and those who donated their gold ring were awarded a ring in steel as are replacement. The specific occasion for this particular medal is unknown.

The medal’s reverse features the depiction of a lavishly decorated ring surrounding two fasces together with the Latin legend and the heraldic Savoy knot. The reverse gives the date as well as the title of the Italian consulate to Geneve in Italian.

The Latin ferrum originally meant iron, but it was also used as a metonym for weaponry, especially swords. In later Latin, ferrum can also be used to refer to steel. The rhetoric of the campaign also tied it to Roman history, where similar scenes were said to have played out, as in Livy 5.25: Cuius cum copia non esset, matronae coetibus ad eam rem consultandam habitis communi decreto pollicitae tribunis militum aurum et omnia ornamenta sua, in aerarium detulerunt (‘Because there was no copious amount of this (i.e. gold), the wives, after having held council to discuss the matter, promised by public decree their gold an all their jewellery to the military tribunes and carried it off to the treasury’). Given the medal’s design, which is made to resemble the appearance of ancient coinage, the Ora alla Patria campaign ties itself to an ancient Roman tradition of citizens surrendering their possessions for the benefit of the state.