102720 | BELGIUM. Luik (Liège). Chapter of St. Lambert's bronze Méreau.

102720  |  BELGIUM. Luik (Liège). Chapter of St. Lambert's Cathedral bronze Méreau or Communion Token. Undated, issued circa 1705. Used for the receiving of food during feast day celebrations (21mm, 4.64 g, 6h).

 

ANNIVERSARIUM, skull and crossbones // ECCLESI LEODI, crossbones between two flames. Edge: Plain.

 

De Renesse pl. LXXII, 6; Revue Belge 1875, pl. V, 15. PCGS VF-35. Brown surfaces; some striking weakness near the bottom of the obverse and top of the reverse, very typical for the issue. Rather conservatively assessed, as there is little actual wear. Given our familiarity with the type, it is very likely that we have handled far more of these, and are more familiar with their appearance and fabric, than the TPGs. Popular and haunting type.

 

St. Lambert served as the Bishop of Maastricht and later, Liège, where he is celebrated as a martyr and patron saint, having defended the fidelity of marriage and not succumbing to Merovingian politics. Though buried at Maastricht, his successor, St. Hubertus, had his relics removed and enshrined at Liège.

 

This type has oftentimes—even here in our listings—been presented as emanating from the middle-late 17th century. However, its style and refinement of engraving place it later than the other four "skull types" in this series, yielding an attribution to the earlier portion of the 18th century instead. Indeed, its appearance in de Schodt's work on the numismatic issues of St. Lambert's Chapter in the 1875 volume of Revue belge de numismatique confirms this later dating for the type.

 

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Upload: 1 October 2024.

 

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