J. Antall szerk.: Medical history in Hungary 1972. Presented to the XXIII. International Congress of the History of Medicine / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 6. (Budapest, 1972)
L. Huszár: British Medals in the Semmelweis Medical Historical Museum in Budapest
BRIT SH MEDALS IN THE SEMMELWEIS MEDICAL HISTORICAL MUSEUM IN BUDAPEST by LAJOS HUSZÁR A t present the numismatic collection in the Semmelweis Medical Historical Museum of Budapest contains about 5 000 pieces. It is entirely made up of medical medals and is based on the special collection of the late Géza Faluđi (1874— 1953), a paediatrician. 1 Naturally the primary aim of the present collection is the assembling of all medical medals which are of Hungarian origin or are related to Hungary as completely as possible, but at the same time collection is general in the sense that it includes all coins, medals, plaquettes, jetons of badges which disclose even the slightest relation to curing and health. Consequently nearly all ages and countries where medical medals were made are represented in the collection, from ancient Greek and Roman coins showing the gods of curing to the contemporary products of the modern mints. As for the Hungarian medals, the collection is not far from being complete, but foreign countries are represented only by a small number of medals. The size of such foreign items is generally determined by the geographical proximity of the various countries and the quantity of medals issued there. Considering the representation of Britain in the collection we may point out 66 medals which are either of British origin or have some or other relation to Britain. All together this series amounts to about 1 percent of the whole collection. By close inspection one finds some which may have some special value owing to their date or the purpose of the issuing, of their relative rarity. These few would have an esteemed place in any collection among medical medals. 1 There is a printed catalogue on the collection of Géza Faluđi: "Medicina in nummis. Sammlung dr. med. Géza Faluđi, Budapest, 1929", but there were many additions to it in later years.
