Netherlands, Groningen Silver Medal 1850 Inauguration of the new Academy Building - By van der Kellen EF-

Netherlands, Groningen. Silver medal commemorating the inauguration of the new Academy Building, 1850. By David van der Kellen.

Obverse: frontal view of the Academy Building with its columned portico. Above: SPLENDEAT · VSV — “May it shine through use”. Below: ACADEMIAE · GRONINGANAE / TEMPLVM.

Reverse: nine-line Latin inscription within a tied laurel wreath, surmounted by a radiant sun. The inscription records the commencement of construction on 1 May 1846, at the initiative of Herman de Ranitz, and the inauguration on 25 September 1850, amid the acclaim of the citizens.

The medal depicts the nineteenth-century Academy Building of the University of Groningen, partly financed by the city’s inhabitants and subsequently destroyed by fire on 30 August 1906. It preserves a detailed architectural view of this lost university building.

A corresponding silver example is held by the Rijksmuseum, inventory number KOG-MP-2-0202.

References: Dirks 711; Jaarboek voor Munt- en Penningkunde 70 (1983), p. 113, no. 9.

Silver. Weight: 17.7 g. Diameter: 42.5 mm.
Obverse: Aesculapius standing with his serpent-entwined staff between two plant vessels on pedestals, with an architectural background.
Legend: MAXIMVS AEGRIS AVXILIATOR ADEST — “The greatest helper of the sick is present.”

Reverse: The crowned arms of Amsterdam between two cornucopias, above a spatula entwined by a serpent. Below, a personalised inscription panel bearing a name provisionally read as “I. J. Bajen”, followed by 1790.

Tokens of this type provided access to Amsterdam’s Hortus Medicus for members of the medical and pharmaceutical community. The engraved name connects this example with an individual holder.

A closely comparable token inscribed to Daniel Dylius in 1790 is preserved in the Rijksmuseum, inventory NG-VG-7-66-A, measuring 47 mm and weighing 46.28 g.

The engraved date refers to the personal inscription; the precise casting date has not been established.

References: Wittop Koning, Amsterdam 30.3; Dirks, plate I, no. 11.

Weight: 45 g.
Diameter: 47 mm.

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