Britain's Waterloo allies awarded medals - 199 years late Benedetto Pistrucci, a renowned engraver of the time, produced the design but its size and intricacy meant it took 30 years to create the dies, by which time all the proposed recipients were dead. Sir Evelyn Webb-Carter, chairman of the Waterloo 200 committee overseeing the anniversary events, said the medal weighing four-and-a-half pounds (2kg) was a "thumping great thing." He said: "It's an extraordinary story. Pistrucci was commissioned to design a Waterloo medal that never got struck. Here we are 200 years later and the thing has been made in the way it was originally envisaged and full size. Worcestershire Medal Service, medallist to the Queen, made the medals on behalf of the London Mint Office. In all up to 2015 of the full size medals are being minted for the bicentenary and will be on sale at £3,900 each. James Deeny, managing director of The London Mint Office, said: "Telling history through coins and commemorative medals is at the heart of what we do. I can't imagine a better example of this than bringing to life Pistrucci's beautiful and amazingly detailed Waterloo Medal as originally intended by the master engraver. 500,000 commemorative bronze Waterloo campaign medals are also being given for free to the public to mark the bicentenary.