14K Gold Augustana Training School Nurse Pin Augustana Hospital, Chicago · 1933 · Named & Dated SOLID 14K GOLD · ENGRAVED 5/31/1933
A solid 14K gold nursing graduation pin from the Augustana Training School for Nurses of Augustana Hospital, Chicago, Illinois. The reverse is hand-engraved to its original owner, Mildred L. Stenlund, and dated 5/31/33 – her graduation, May 31, 1933. A named, dated piece of early-20th-century Chicago nursing history in exceptional condition, with a fully functional period clasp.
Specifications ItemNursing graduation pin / badge (brooch) InstitutionAugustana Training School, Augustana Hospital · Chicago, IL Engraved ToMildred L. Stenlund Date5/31/1933 (graduation) Metal14K gold (hallmarked on reverse), blue enamel banner Weight / Sizeapprox. 0.223 ozt · approx. 1.5 inches ClaspPeriod hasp pin-back, fully functional ConditionExceptional; only typical minor abrasions to reverse The Design
The face is a scalloped gold lozenge with a blue enamel banner reading AUGUSTANA TRAINING SCHOOL, the letters A and H (Augustana Hospital) to either side, and CHICAGO, ILL. below. At its center, in raised relief, is a Good Samaritan scene – a robed figure tending a stricken traveler against a desert backdrop of palm and pyramids. It is the parable of mercy to the fallen, the natural emblem for a nursing order whose stated purpose was “the exercise of mercy among the suffering.”
The School & the Owner
Augustana Hospital was founded in 1884 by the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran community of Chicago, an outgrowth of the Deaconess Institution incorporated in 1882 and tied to the Augustana Synod. Its School of Nursing opened in 1894, graduating its first class in 1896, and trained generations of nurses – many of Swedish-American heritage – through the first half of the 20th century.
The pin’s named owner is corroborated in the school’s own records: a Mildred Stenlund appears as a student in the Augustana Hospital School of Nursing 1932 yearbook, “The Chart” – one year before the May 31, 1933 graduation engraved on this pin. The inscription is not just a name; it matches a documented member of the program.
Why It Matters
Named and dated graduation awards are the most collectible form of nursing exonumia – each one was earned by a real person on a real day, and most were long ago melted for their gold, making intact examples steadily scarcer. This pin goes a step further: its recipient is corroborated in Augustana’s own 1932 nursing yearbook, so the provenance can be checked, not just claimed.
Condition sharpens the appeal. Where most survivors are worn, bent, or have failed clasps, this example is exceptionally well preserved – crisp relief and enamel on the face, only the typical minor handling abrasions to the reverse, and a period hasp that still functions like new. High grade is itself a form of scarcity in this category.
For collectors of Chicago history, Swedish-American heritage, or nursing’s gold-pin tradition, a verifiable, solid-14K, named-and-dated piece in this state of preservation is an uncommon find. The gold content gives it a firm floor; the documented story and the grade are what lift it above melt.
Ships fully insured.
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