Only Hancocks London is allowed to produce the VC medals.

The bronze from which all Victoria Crosses are made is supplied by the Central Ordnance Depot in Donnington. This metal is cut from cannons captured from the Russians at Sebastopol during the Crimean War. When more Crosses are required Hancocks requests a supply of metal and this is then delivered to them by COD Donnington.

Unlike any other award for gallantry the Victoria Cross is not made in a die. It is not struck, as are coins and many other medals, it is cast. Traditionally it is sand cast in moulds usually containing four specimens at a time. The medals are removed from the sand moulds when the metal has cooled, and then the hand finishing process begins. The suspender bar from which the cross itself is hung, is cast at the same time as the medal and receives the same hand finishing. The obverse and reverse are hand chased even to the minutest detail and the whole medal has a special bronze finish applied at the end of the process. This gives a nice even colour to the medal because the bronze from which it is cast does not have an overall attractive appearance. Typically twelve Victoria Crosses are produced at a time.

Originally the practice was for Hancocks to manufacture the medals, place the correct ribbons on them and deliver them to the War Office. However, owing to the great number of Victoria Crosses awarded during the First World War this practice was discontinued for reasons of efficiency.

The previous system meant that, when any awards were made, the appropriate number of medals were returned to Hancocks for the necessary engraving and then returned again to the War Office. During the 1914-18 War the time required to produce the Victoria Crosses meant that the engraving was done directly after the manufacturing process was complete. It follows, therefore, that no individual Victoria Cross has ever been made specifically for an individual award, there being a stock of medals held in reserve. From time to time official duplicates have been issued to replace some which may have been destroyed or in other ways lost and such replacements are under the strict control of the Ministry of Defence.

It was originally intended that the VCs would be cast from the bronze cascabels of two cannon that were captured from the Russians at the siege of Sevastopol. The remaining portion of the only remaining cascabel, weighing 358 oz (10 kg), is stored in a vault maintained by 15 Regiment Royal Logistic Corps at Donnington, Telford. It can only be removed under armed guard. It is estimated that approximately 80 to 85 more VCs could be cast from this source.

Note regarding :
metal is cut from cannons captured from the Russians at Sebastopol during the Crimean War –> Research has indicated another origin for the material.The historian John Glanfield has established that the metal for most of the medals made since December 1914 came from two Chinese cannons and that there is no evidence of Russian origin.