Kamer van Koophandel te Antwerpen, ter ere van Willem I Frederik, koning der Nederlanden 1815

This small silver medal, by Pierre Wautier van de Goor, commemorates the Chamber of Commerce in Antwerp, in honor of Willem I Frederik, king of the Netherlands. The medal would have been die-struck, a process requiring the creation of hardened steel dies which would have been used to impress the design onto the softer silver. On one face is a portrait of the king, and on the other a classical allegory relating to trade. The silver material, itself a commodity, is integral to the medal's purpose, giving intrinsic value to its symbolic content. Although small, this object embodies significant labor: from the mining of the silver, to the skilled craftsmanship required to make the dies and strike the medal itself. As such, it gives us a glimpse into the relationship between power, labor and commerce in the 19th century, a time of great industrial and economic change. Ultimately, this medal invites us to consider how materials and making processes are always tied to wider social and political contexts.