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1720, Nuremberg "Jacob's Ladder" Reisegroschen Medal

1720s. Germany. Nuremberg (Germany). Jacob´s Ladder Medal - a so called Reisegroschen ("travel coin / travel dollar"). Goppel 1151. Forster 889. Obverse: Jacob sleeping under a tree, dreaming of the "ladder to heaven" from which two angels are descending. Landscape in background. Medallist´s signature ("W") beneath his left arm. Legend: WANN IACOB SO IM HERREN RVHT . IST VBER IHM DER ENGEL HVT . Translated: "Whenever Jacob rests (is in peace) with god, the angels will keep him safe.".
Reverse: The travelling Tobias, being acompanied by an angel. Landscape in background. Legend: SO WIRT DIE REIS MIT GLÜCK VOLLBRACHT WANN MICH BEGLEIT DER ENGEL WACHT . Translated: "This shall make the travel safe, when the angel guards among me."


Jacob's Ladder (Hebrew: Sulam Yaakov סולם יעקב) is the colloquial name for a connection between the earth and heaven that the biblical Patriarch Jacob dreams about during his flight from his brother Esau, as described in the Book of Genesis. The significance of the dream has been somewhat debated, but most interpretations agree that it identified Jacob with the obligations and inheritance of the ethnic people chosen by God, as understood in Abrahamic religions. It has since been used as a symbolic reference in various other contexts.

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