Waagdragersgilde van Amsterdam, begrafenispenning met no. 68 1618

This brass burial medal, or ‘Begrafenispenning’, was made in Amsterdam by Hans Rogiers van Harelbeke. The medal was produced for the Amsterdam guild of weighers, who oversaw the city's marketplace scales. It's a reminder of how important these guilds were in 17th century Holland – powerful economic forces that looked after their members from cradle to grave. The design, roughly cast in brass, represents the weigh house of Amsterdam on one side, and the coat of arms of the weighers’ guild on the other. The use of brass, a utilitarian material, speaks to the guild's practical role in the bustling city. Minted in multiples, each one numbered, these tokens acted as a form of membership and a symbol of solidarity. Thinking about the medal in this way, you might consider it a work of craft, in miniature – a direct connection between community, labor and identity.