102717 | NETHERLANDS. Amsterdam. Surgeon's Guild cast brass Toegangspenning.

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).

 

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.

 

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Upload: 17 October 2025.

 

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