102275 | SWEDEN. Anders Adolph Retzius silver Medal.

102275  |  SWEDEN. Anders Adolph Retzius silver Medal. Issued 1867. Commemorating the life (1796-1860) of the professor of anatomy (31mm, 14.63 g, 12h). Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences series. By Lea Ahlborn.

 

A A RETZIUS PROF ET INSP R INST MED CHIR CAROL HOLM / N 1796 O 1860, bare head right / NEC SINIT ESSE MUTA, two skulls set upon draped table along with forceps; in four lines in exergue, SOCIO ANATOM / ET ETHNOGR CELEBERR / R ACAD SCIENT SVEC / MDCCCLXVII. Edge: Plain.

 

Brettauer 966; Hyckert II, 146, 1; Olsén 183; Granberg 256. Mint State. Mostly argent and prooflike in the fields, with some frosting to the devices and a deeper tone at the peripheries. A rare and popular haunting type. Compare to a similar example that realized a hammer of €700 in Möller 76 (16 November 2020), lot 1125 [a total, after the buyer's fee, of $995].

 

After studying medicine at Lund University and in Copenhagen, Retzius became a doctor and received a professorship at the Karolinska Institute in 1824. His role would continue to grow there, ultimately becoming a permanent professor and supervisor in 1840. In addition to other parts of the anatomy, he studied the human cranium, and is credited with defining the cephalic index—the ratio of width to length of one's head. Similar to Blumenbach, he studied the skulls of different races, believing them to be from different origins.

 

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Upload: 16 December 2022.