1740-1780 (engraved 1766) Surgeon Guild Admission Token (42mm, 30.41g)

Engraved in 1766 for Willem Evers upon his passing of the surgeon's exam and admission to the Amsterdam medicinal garden. 42mm, 30.41 grams, die axis 12h. Skeleton (Grim Reaper) standing facing, holding a scythe and resting a hand upon an hourglass on a base to the right, with flowers at his feet. The reverse: HORTUS MEDICUS - "medicinal garden" - a vase of various flowers set upon an ornate base engraved "WILLEM EVERS / 17 66" and bearing the date 16-84. Plain edge. Brettauer 5198.

The obverse of this type - featuring a figure of Death alongside an hourglass - is an allusion to the transient nature of life, and as such a true memento mori. It was used in Amsterdam as a token of one's membership in the Guild of Surgeons. The reverse refers to the city's medicinal garden, the so-called Hortus Medicus, which housed various flora that could be used medicinally.

Following the devastation of the plagues that had gripped Europe and portions of the rest of the world, the understanding and cultivation of plant-based remedies began to take real form, with this garden serving in that role. The bearer of such a token would also have access to the grounds to make use of the plants grown there.

Charming olive-brown surfaces with a few spots of green on the reverse. A very rare and genuinely fascinating medicine-in-nummis type - a similar example (though unengraved) realized $2,640 in the Stack's Bowers October 2021 CCO sale (lot 72539). Examples personally engraved to a named guild member, like this one to Willem Evers, are rarer still.