103409 | GERMANY. Samuel Thomas Sömmering bronze Medal.

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.

 

Upload: 19 October 2026.