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100563 | NETHERLANDS. Amsterdam. Silver Medal.

$295.00Price
  • Details

    100563  |  NETHERLANDS. Amsterdam silver Medal. Issued 1696. Commemorating the suppression of civic unrest following the 'Undertaker's Revolt' (39mm, 24.77 g, 12h). By R. Arondeaux.

     

    MOTOS PRÆSTAT COMPONERE FLVCTVS (it is more important to settle the raging waves, –adapted from the Æneid), Neptune, holding trident and raising hand, riding in marine carriage drawn rightward by two seahorses and calming the waters roiled by bellowing tempests to upper left and right; below, capsizing nest from which kingfishers (halcyons) flee / HALCYONIBVS REDVCTIS / SENATVS AMSTELOD / CIVIBVS SVIS HOC / ANTIQVÆ VIRTVTIS / SPECTAT ÆQ FIDEI / PRÆMIVM LARGITVR (with the Halcyons having returned, the city council of Amsterdam has given unto its citizens this gift of ancient virtue and wondrous faith), two kingfishers resting in a nest floating upon the calm waters; rising sun at the horizon. Edge: Plain.

     

    Julius 441; van Loon IV 161/221.3. Choice About Uncirculated. Exceptionally lustrous and attractively toned; some scattered marks and hairlines in the fields are noted. An always popular historical type. Includes an old collector's ticket referencing its purchase from Schulman, 15 February 1940.

     

    Following the passage of a new law which planned to cut the number of men working as an undertaker’s man from 300 to 72, the aanspreker (undertakers) spread rumors around the city that, due to these proposed changes, the city’s poor would no longer be able to expect proper burials. The ensuing riot grew from just the poor to the city’s sailors as well, with unruly crowds attacking the homes of the various civic leaders. The riot was eventually quelled, but not after a number of deaths among the city’s elite.

     

    The representation of the Halcyons on the reverse of this medal alludes to the Greek legend in which these birds would calm the sea in order to lay their eggs in a floating nest, therefore giving rise to the association of the Halcyons as an allegory for peace or serenity–the calm which was ushered in following the resolution to the aansprekersoproer.

     

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