tin medal
n.— «The prize of a gold medal for the best female skater was award to Miss Mamie McElwee, and the prize of a tin medal for the poorest male skater was given, in a joke, to a young gentleman who really skates excellently well.» —“The Rink Closed” The Landmark (Statesvill, N.C.) Mar. 24, 1882. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The adjective corny describes someone or something “unsophisticated” or “naive.” This sense of corny goes back at least as far as the 1920s. Seed catalogs of the time often contained bits of goofy jokes and broad humor...