MARK OF JAN AARNOUT BOS, AMSTERDAM, 1750

Between 1648 and 1758, every year around Easter and the autumn, the 'Latijnse Scholen' of Amsterdam would hold a calligraphy contest among its students. The winner was presented with a silver feather, the 'calamus argenteus'. This custom began in the early seventeenth Century and was adopted by the 'Latijnse Scholen' of The Hague, Hoorn and Leiden. Each feather was applied with the gilded coat-of-arms of the city and the date it was awarded, the shaft engraved with a roman or Arabic number indicating the grade of the student. The silver feather offered here was presented to one of the students who received the 'calamus argentues' in 1750. By the middle of the 18th Century 'prijsboeken' or pricebooks came into fashion and in 1758 the last silver feather was awarded.

Other examples include one of 1730 by Hendrik de Hondt which is illustrated by J. R. de Lorm, Amsterdams Goud en Zilver, Amsterdam, p. 94, no. 44 and another of 1752, also by Jan Aarnout Bos which was sold Christie's, Amsterdam, 3 April 2012, lot 116.