101100 | NETHERLANDS. Maastricht. Lead Funeral Token (Begrafenisloodje).

101100  |  NETHERLANDS. Maastricht. Lead Funeral Token (Begrafenisloodje). Issued circa 1825. Receipt for funerary expenses or as a funerary commemorative (28mm, 15.18 g, 1h). Issued for St. Nicholas's Church (Nikolaaskerk).

 

Skull and crossbones / St / NICOLA / =US in three lines. Edge: Slightly toothed as made, with casting sprue.

 

Cf. Minard p. 196, 360 (cancellation punches on the obverse). PCGS AU-58. Light gray surfaces, with some brilliance remaining in the protected areas. A very rare and engaging type, more difficult to acquire than the similar issues from St. Servatius's Church in Maastricht, and easily far more difficult—and larger—than the similar types from St. Lambert's in Liège in bronze. Not surprisingly, the only such occurrence of the type in the PCGS census.

 

Begrafenisloodje served multiple roles in the Low Countries during the 16th-19th centuries, acting as payment for gravediggers and pallbearers or other funerary expenses, or acting as a commemorative for the funeral of the deceased—either to those attending the ceremonies or to the respective church in remembrance of the departed. When they were utilized to indicate payment, a punch was generally placed upon one or both sides to act as a form of "cancellation" for the services rendered and payment received.

 

Upload: 15 March 2023.

 

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