SANDOZ Premium

426, Lot: 631. Estimate $50. Sold for $45. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SWITZERLAND, Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft. 1848-present. Cast Æ (31mm, 14.40 g, 8h). Promotional copy of a Serdica Æ of Caracalla by the Swiss pharmaceutical firm, Sandoz. Manufactured circa 1980s. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Caracalla right / Aesculapius standing left, leaning on serpent-entwined staff; SANDOZ (triple pelklets) in exergue. Cf. Varbanov 2191 (for original). VF, brown surfaces.

The Swiss pharmaceutical company Sandoz might be best known for discovering the psychedelic properties of LSD, but in the late twentieth century it also dabbled in coinage. Replicas were made of ancient Greek and Roman coin types which featured health-related imagery, such as the silphium plant or Aesculapius and Hygeia, and distributed to healthcare professionals across the continent. Each coin featured the firm’s name in the reverse exergue.