Description
France jeton silver Feuardent 4755
PHARMACISTS – CHEMISTS – APOTHECARIES Louis XVI 1778
LUDOV. XVI. REX CHRISTIANISS.
Buste to the left of Louis XVI signed DUVIV. [n°374]
IN HIS. TRIBUS VERSANTUR ; À L’EXERGUE : COLLEGE. DE PHARMACIE. 1778.
Georges Dillemann, in his book Jetons et Médailles Pharmaceutiques (p.14), explains this reverse: the palm tree is not the emblem of apothecaries, as Feuardent thought, nor their coat of arms, according to Réaubourg, but the symbol of the three kingdoms of Nature. The palm tree represents the plant kingdom, the snake the animal kingdom and the rocky soil the mineral kingdom. The apothecary and pharmacist trades were separated in April 1777, and authorization to mint tokens was granted in 1778.
Rarity R2
Diameter 31 mm
Weight 9,24 gram
Condition XF