Prussia - 1811/1796

Smallpox Inoculations in Berlin

Obverse - Prussia - Medal - 1811/1796 Reverse - Prussia - Medal - 1811/1796
Obverse - a child holds a rose in his left hand. A cornucopia left and a rosebush to the right.
Legend, EDUARD JENNER'S WOHLTHÆTIGE ENTDEGRUNG
  "Edward Jenner's beneficial discovery"
Exergue, VOM 14 MAI 1796
  "on May 14, 1796"
Reverse - ZUM / ANDENKEN / AN / ERHALTENEN / UND / MITGETHEILTEN / SCHUTZ
  "To commemorate the achieved and transferred protection"
Below a line, GEREICHT VOM / DOCTOR BREMER / IN BERLIN / 1811
  "administered by Doctor Bremer in Berlin 1811"
Exergue, 8 . L . 6 . GR .
  *see below
Size, 25.5 mm.
 
Edward Jenner inoculated a young man on May 14, 1796 with a vaccine made of the pus of a coxpox sufferer in order to test his theory that it would protect against the ravages of smallpox.
The reverse has to do with the introduction of inoculations in Berlin by a Doctor Bremer in 1811. "Dr. Bremer alone at the Royal Institute in Berlin inoculated 14,605."
Struck from silver on a relatively thin planchet. I'm not certain why there is a indentation in the obverse exergue but it appears deliberate.

* "8 Lot and 6 Grän (approx. 0.523 fineness, Prussian weight units for the silver content: 1 Prussian Lot = 16 Grän, so 134 Grän in total of 256 maximum possible Grän)"
Information in quotes courtesy of Arminius at CoinPeople.com