NUMISMAGRAM MEDAL SELECTIONS: OCTOBER 25, 2026

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V29 2026 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 29, Number 43, 2026, Article 18

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

102526 | NETHERLANDS. Amsterdam. Master Surgeon's Guild cast brass Toegangspenning (Admission Token). Issued 1654, and used for admission to the medicinal garden (botanic gardens) by physicians, surgeons, master pharmacists, and their students (44mm, 27.31 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: A few light marks as made, otherwise plain.

Cf. Storer 3865 (for an engraved example); Brettauer 5201; Neumann 35244; Koning p. 46, 6.2; Dirks I.5.7. Choice Very Fine. Red-brown surfaces. 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).

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.

103698 | GERMANY & POLAND. Silesia (Slask). Plague of Locusts silver Medal. Issued 1748 for the swarms of locusts of subsequent agricultural damage done by locusts (22mm, 3.60 g, 1h). By Georg Wilhelm Kittel in Wroclaw.

EIN UNGEBETNER GAST (an uninvited guest...), locust left; in two lines in exergue, AVSFREMDEN / LANDEN (...from foreign lands...) // KOMMT FELD UND WALD ZUR LAST (...becomes a burden to field and forest), swarm of locusts descending left upon a tree-lined horizon. Edge: Plain.

Pestilentia in Nummis 100; Storer –; Brettauer 1893; Friedensburg & Seger 4336; GPH 1193. PCGS AU-58. Pleasingly toned, with some brilliance remaining among the fields. A particularly haunting type alluding to the wrath brought about by one of the Biblical plagues.

The years of 1748 and 1749 saw great swarms of locusts plaguing parts of Europe, such as Bohemia and Northern Germany, with the pests noted as far as the British Isles. Noted throughout antiquity and even famously referenced in the Bible as one of the plagues of Egypt, the insect's ability to reproduce abundantly and form massive migratory swarms has made it ceaselessly feared, as the agricultural damage left in their wake is often catastrophic.

102386 | GERMANY. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach bronze Medal. Issued circa 1825-1845. Commemorating the Jubilee of the Anthropologist's Doctorate (50mm, 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. Storer 398; Brettauer 125. PCGS MS-63. Rich red-brown surfaces, with intense brilliance in the fields. An ever-interesting and haunting type. Compare to an inferior example with numerous scattered marks and friction, which realized a total of $1,320 (after the buyer's fee) in Sedwick 38 (13 November 2025), lot 1345. Of note, while SP is designated on the holder, MS is indicated on the PCGS website for this specimen. This is largely irrelevant, as the distinction between MS/SP/PR striking styles is a non-issue for exonumia.

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. For more information on Blumenbach and a modern analysis of his career—as well as a reference to this medallic issue—visit Nell Irvin Painter's "Why White People Are Called ‘Caucasian?'."

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 on the planet), just a few in silver and iron have been offered, with none even seen in gilt bronze or especially gold.

103409 | GERMANY. Samuel Thomas Sömmering bronze Medal. Issued circa 1827-1845. Commemorating the 50th anniversary of his doctorate, and used as the prize medal for the Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft of Frankfurt (50mm, 77.05 g, 12h). By Christoph Pfeuffer for the Loos workshop in Berlin.

S TH A SOEMMERRING NAT THORUNI D XXVIII IAN MDCCLV DOCT CREAT GOTTINGAE D VII APR MDCCLXXVIII, bare head right; serpent-entwined staff to right // ANATOMICORUM PRINCIPI ANIMAE ORGANA QUI APERUIT ARTIS VIRIQUE CULTORES D VII APR MDCCCXXVIII, view of a human brain from the top. Edge: Plain.

Storer 3389; Brettauer 1159; Sommer P-19; Joseph & Fellner 1030. Choice Mint State. Glossy chocolate brown surfaces, with great brilliance in the fields; a minor spot is noted at the truncation of the neck. Highly interesting and haunting anatomical type.

One of the most important German anatomists, Samuel Thomas Sömmering received his doctorate from the University of Göttingen in 1778, for which he described the organization of the cranial nerves. During his career, he investigated the brain and nervous system, as well as sensory organs and the lungs. Of particular note, he discovered the macula in the retina of the human eye. Given this intense focus on the nervous system as a whole, the choice of a human brain on this doctorate celebratory medal is quite appropriate.

As the Loos mint was an enterprising establishment, examples of this medal (similar to the Blumenbach medal) could continue to be ordered per the firm's product brochure in 1842, so a the date of production listed here is a range given that it would be difficult to know specifically when it was produced over the two-or-so decades in the mid-19th century.

103418 | GERMANY. Witches' Night uniface cast bronze Medal. Issued 1907. Commemorating the feast of Saint Walpurga and the "European Halloween" (65mm, 42.28 g). By Hans Schwegerle for Carl Poellath in Schrobenhausen.

Nude witch, with head turned left and holding stick, riding broom right; to right, owl flying right; WALPURGIS / NACHT (Walpurgis Night) in two lines below // Blank. Edge: Plain.

Cf. Heidemann 1295 (reverse with legend in four lines between stars); cf. Datow 10 (same); cf. Hasselmann 14a (same). Essentially as Cast. Dark brown surfaces, with some lighter hints upon the higher points. A very rare and interesting type, especially here as a uniface issue, for which this is the only such example that this cataloger could locate.

Walpurgisnacht, also known as "Burning of the Witches Night," is a Northern and Central European holiday celebrated on the eve of May. Named for St. Walpurga, an 8th century abbess in Francia, it has long been associated with invocations against pests and diseases, as well as witchcraft, with bonfires being lit at night in order to ward off the latter. In a sense, it serves as somewhat of a springtime analog to Halloween in Europe.