103667 | GERMANY. Franz Joseph Gall silver Medal.

103667  |  GERMANY. Franz Joseph Gall silver Medal. Issued 1805. Commemorating the founder of phrenology (40mm, 18.19 g, 12h). By Abraham Abramson in Berlin.

 

IOSEPHO GALL ORGAN IN CEREBRO SCRVTATORI, bust right in frock coat // DISTRIBVIT PARTES ANIMAE SEDESQVE, skull facing right, with back turned toward the viewer and phrenologically mapped; in two lines in exergue, AVDITOR BEROLINENS / MDCCCV. Edge: A few light marks, otherwise plain.

 

Storer 1166; Brettauer 375; Hoffmann 208. PCGS AU-58. Deeply toned, with some great brilliance among the fields. A rare type.

 

Gall was a noted physiologist and neuroanatomist, and most well-known as the father of phrenology. From an early age, Gall was interested in the classification and differences in human abilities and tendencies. He began noting that these aptitudes could be linked to various areas of the brain, each responsible for different characteristics. The random bumps on one's skull were, he believed, due to pressure exerted by the brain from beneath. Wildly popular and accepted in his time, phrenology is now viewed entirely as a pseudoscience that has been repeatedly disproven. Nevertheless, the contributions which he made to modern neuroscience cannot be overlooked.

 

Upload: 19 October 2026.

 

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