Prijspenning van de Schietvereeniging Amsterdam, 1896 1896

This is a silver prize medal made in 1896 by Jan Daniel Posthumus for the Amsterdam Shooting Association. Medals like this offer a glimpse into the social fabric of late 19th-century Netherlands, where shooting associations were popular social clubs, often linked to civic identity and masculine ideals. These associations were typically composed of middle-class men, bonding over shared interests and reinforcing social hierarchies through competition and camaraderie. Consider the medal’s imagery and the specific context of its creation. What notions of masculinity and civic duty were being celebrated? Whose stories are valorized, and whose are notably absent? The Shooting Association represents a very particular segment of society. While it fostered community among its members, it also reinforced existing power structures, and tells a larger story of identity and belonging in a rapidly changing world.