Mint Club #1 – A Seventeenth-Century Reflection in Silver

Mint Club #1 brings an emblem from George Wither’s A Collection of Emblemes, Ancient and Moderne into a broad 50 mm silver format. Struck in 2 troy ounces of .999 fine silver, the round combines a richly populated allegorical scene with a simple reminder: the belongings we gather during life do not accompany us beyond it.

The Story Behind the Emblem

Published in 1635, Wither’s collection paired symbolic pictures with English verse addressing moral and spiritual themes. Its illustrations had a history of their own. The Folger Shakespeare Library identifies the emblem plates as engravings by Crispijn van de Passe the Elder originally made for Gabriel Rollenhagen’s books of 1611 and 1613. Wither supplied a new literary setting for those images; he was not their engraver.

The scene selected for this round comes from Book I and carries the verse, “As, to the World I naked came, So, naked-stripped I leave the same.” Read alongside the image, the words turn a landscape into a meditation on possessions, mortality and what endures. The contrast between belongings left on shore and the departing figure gives the composition its meaning.

A Landscape Filled with Symbols

The obverse shows distant mountains beyond a tranquil sea and central island, with sailboats to either side. Worldly belongings lie scattered across the foreground shore. Above them, a naked figure ascends against clouds, with the sun and moon on opposite sides. The 50 mm diameter gives this detailed scene room to unfold.

The reverse features a spread-winged eagle, a crown above and a flowing ribbon held in its talons, set against a circular diamond pattern. The Mint Club and Limited Mintage inscriptions accompany the stated total mintage of 500 and the silver hallmark.

Specifications

• Weight: 2 troy ounces
• Purity: .999 fine silver
• Diameter: 50 mm
• Thickness: 3.60 mm
• Edge: Reeded
• Finish: Brilliant Uncirculated
• Stated total mintage: 500

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