NUMISMAGRAM MEDAL SELECTIONS: OCTOBER 19, 2025

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V28 2025 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 28, Number 42, 2025, Article 22

Numismagram's Jeremy Bostwick sent along these four medals from his most recent upload of spooky material material to his site. For all of the new items, please visit https://www.numismagram.com/inventory. -Garrett

102717 | NETHERLANDS. Amsterdam. Surgeon's Guild cast brass Toegangspenning (Admission Token). Issued 1654, and used for the passing of the surgeon's exam/admission to the medicinal garden (45mm, 29.30 g, 12h). Skeleton (Grim Reaper) standing facing, holding scythe and resting hand upon hourglass on base to right; flowers at feet // Civic coat-of-arms of Amsterdam; below, field left blank for engraving; all set upon decorative cartouche, with skull at the bottom. Edge: Plain. Koning p. 46, 6.2; Dirks I.5.7; cf. Brettauer 5198. About Uncirculated. Brassy-olive surfaces, with a few stains noted near the rims. A rare and interesting medicina in nummis type. Compare to a similar example (also unengraved) that realized a total of $2,640 in the Stack's Bowers October 2021 CCO (lot 72539). $1,965.

The obverse of this type—featuring a figure of Death along with an hourglass—is an allusion to the transient nature of life and, as such, a memento mori. It was used in Amsterdam as a token of one's membership into the guild of surgeons. Meanwhile, the reverse refers to the city herself, which was home to a medicinal garden—the so-called hortus medicus—which housed various flora that could be used medicinally. Following the fallout of the plagues that had gripped Europe, along with portions of the rest of the world, the understanding and cultivation of plant-based remedies began to take form, with this garden serving in that role. The bearer of such a token would also have access to these grounds to make use of the plants grown.

102857 | GREAT BRITAIN. Anti-Republican Sympathies white metal Medal. Issued 1795. "A cure for ills" (48mm, 54.19 g, 12h). By W. Whitley. THE LAND WE LIVE IN AND MAY THOSE WHO DON'T LIKE IT LEAVE IT, GOD SAVE THE KING, crown above; below, domestic scene, with father holding tankard and playing with two children, while a mother is at a spinning wheel, and another child prepares a dinner table; all within wreath // A PHILOSOPHICAL CURE FOR ALL EVILS / LICENTIOUS LIBERTY IS DESTRUCTION / ABHOR EVIL CLEAVE TO THAT WHICH IS GOOD, decapitated French aristocrat standing left, pointing downward to left at his severed head; around, the severed heads of others, still bleeding from their necks, are attached to a rope, forming a wreath-like border; to inner right, the Devil, with horns, wings, and a pointed tale, urges on the aristocrat. Edge: Plain. BHM 407; Eimer 869. PCGS SP-55. Some very subtle rub on the high points, but otherwise full of enchanting brilliance and quite attractive given the metal. Rare, especially this appealing. $695.

The execution of Louis XVI was an inflection point in European politics, and came just after the American colonies successfully achieved their independence. In the United Kingdom, partisans to the monarchy saw this "licentious liberty" exhibited to the south in France as abhorrent, with the still-recent loss of her aforementioned American colonies also making emotions run high. This sentiment comes through rather strongly on the medal here, which is essentially the late 18th century example of "if you don't like it, you can get out!"

102556 | GERMANY. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach bronze Medal. Issued circa 1825-1845. Commemorating the Jubilee of the Anthropologist's Doctorate (50mm, 68.90 g, 12h). By Heinrich Gube for Gottfried Bernhard Loos in Berlin. I FR BLUMENBACH NATO GOTHAE D 11 MAII 1752 DOCT CREATO GOTTINGAE D 19 SEPT 1775, bust left // NATURAE INTERPRETI OSSA LOQUI IUBENTI PHYSIOSOPHILI GERMANICI D 19 SEPT 1825, three human skulls, as classified by Blumenbach: Caucasian, Ethiopian, and Mongolian. Edge: Plain. Storer 398; Brettauer 125. PCGS MS-63. Deep glossy red-brown surfaces. An ever-interesting and haunting type. $795.

Blumenbach was an anthropologist from the University of Göttingen and specialized in the study and classification of human skulls from around the world—later known as craniometry. At the time of his death, he owned 245 whole skulls and fragments, along with two mummies. The term ‘caucasian" as a descriptor of race was also derived from him, as his influential use of it in 1795 quickly caught on in scientific circles.

This medal would have likely been commissioned by close family, friends, and/or colleagues of Blumenbach in celebration of the jubilee of his doctorate, as such practice was very much en vogue. Rather than commissioning a portrait, for example, which would exist singularly and in a fixed position, a medal, in contrast, could be made in a small quantity across various metal types to be given not just to the honoree, but to others as well in the form of a keepsake. Furthermore, the size of the medal allowed for easy transport, and for one to carry it with one's self in remembrance. As the Loos mint was an enterprising establishment, examples of this medal (across medal types such as gold, silver, bronze, gilt bronze, and even iron) could continue to be ordered per the firm's product brochure in 1842 (though cast iron, known for this type as well as others among the oeuvre of Loos, is curiously not mentioned in the brochure). While this cataloger has handled numerous in bronze (easily more than anyone else), just a few in silver and iron have been offered, with none even seen in gilt bronze or especially gold.

102997 | GERMANY. "Hunger Taler" cast bronze Medal. Dated 1948. The currency reform and introduction of the Deutsche Mark (73mm, 104.36 g, 12h). By Guido Goetz in München. HVNGER TALER, Death, wearing loose fitting robe, seated left on stones, holding false scales with fish tagged KALOR[IEN]; on stones, a poster displaying the day's ration: 2 g fat; 7 g meat; 9 g fish; 9 g sugar; 22 g broth; 50 g flour; 143 g potatoes; 250 g bread // ABWERTVNG (devaluation), the devil left, consuming coins stamped RM (reichsmark) while handing out bills marked DM (deutsche mark) and ration books. Edge: Apparent clasp removal at the top. Mint State details. Even brown surfaces, though the edge damage accounts for the details designation. Highly interesting and very rare. $765.

Introduced on 20 June 1948 as a means to stem the hyperinflation experienced during the Weimar period and during the middle and final stages of World War II, the Deutsche Mark replaced the old Reichsmark and Rentenmark, with the former currency being exchanged for the new at varying rates, often at quite a degree less. This devaluation, along with the rationing of food and allotting of calories, led to widespread despair as conveyed through this medal. Eventually, the German economy would rebound as the strains from World War II were lessened, allowing the Deutsche Mark to become one of the most stable global currencies until its replacement by the Euro upon Germany's adoption of the latter in early 2002.