103052 | SWITZERLAND. Bern. Silver Academic Prize Medal or "Gärtnerpfennig".

103052  |  SWITZERLAND. Bern. Silver Academic Prize Medal or "Gärtnerpfennig". Issued circa 1824/5 for outstanding pupils in the canton (35mm, 12h).

 

LABOR OMNIBUS IDEM (work is the same for all), bees in flight around a beehive set upon an altar; sapling to the right; PRÆM DILIG (a prize for diligence) in exergue // RESPUBLICA BERNENSIS, crowned cantonal coat-of-arms of Bern within a laurel wreath.

 

SM 704; Meier & Häusler 164. NGC MS-65. Deeply toned, with tremendous brilliance and crispness. Fairly rare in this elevated and rather attractive state of preservation, and the only such representative of the type in the NGC census.

 

Quite popular in the canton of Bern during the 18th and early 19th centuries, the so-called “Gärtnerpfennigs,” or “gardener’s pennies,” were a special form of scholastic prize given to deserving students for their academic achievements. They would sometimes feature a kneeling gardener on one side (acounting for the name), as the gardener was considered an allegory of diligence. Here, however, the iconography of industriousness is represented by a beehive with numerous bees flying around.

 

Upload: 2 January 2025.