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THE 1684 HORTUS MEDICUS TOKENGosia Fort of the University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences Library System writes: Every two months I choose one item from our Rare Book and Special Collections to describe and "advertise" to our staff and library patrons via our library newsletter, HSLS Update. This month's piece is about a Dutch token. And since I dug out a lot of useful information from the E-Sylum archive, you all are its co-authors! Thank you!
Falk Library has an interesting token in its special collections. It was issued by the Hortus Medicus, the botanic gardens of the University of Amsterdam, founded in 1682 by a decree of the Amsterdam City Council. The gardens were planted in 1683. It is one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world. Hortus Medicus was created to serve as an herb garden for doctors and apothecaries, and to heal the city after the bubonic plague. The first tokens, that granted admission to the garden for physicians, surgeons, and chemists, were sold in 1684. The specimen in our collection is from the first series. It has a clearly visible issue date and the name Hortus Medicus. Under the vase of flowers there is a place to incuse the name of the pass holder (initials H.V.B.). The reverse has an image of a skeleton with a scythe, resting its hand on an hourglass which is positioned on a tomb. The token is made of brass and measures 44 mm (1.25 inches) in diameter.
What a great token! Be sure to read the full article and click on the image to watch it rotate. Neat effect! I haven't seen this feature before (NOTE: it may not work in all browsers).
-Editor
To read the complete article, see:
Treasures from the Rare Book Room: Tokens from the 17th Century
(info.hsls.pitt.edu/updatereport/?p=7293)
The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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