Collectors item, Originele Intec Gaper nr 10 - Sculpture, Intec gaper nr 10, handgeschilderd, apotheek - 20 cm - ground natural stone - 1964

Rare Intec Gaper number 10. craquele. (see photos) See and read the booklet. Collection of 41 gapers, issued and made by the company Intec in Veenendaal. Only drugstores and chemists with sufficient turnover received these, unique, hand-painted gapers. All of ground natural stone, only number 41, the last is made of resin. The molds were ultimately destroyed at a farewell party of the company in front of the guests.

Gapers were identification marks for pharmacies, chemists, and drugstores. They first appeared at the end of the sixteenth century and occur only in Dutch-, Frisian-, and Flemish-language regions. Most that are still used as identification marks today date from the nineteenth century or are replicas.
The gaper remains a mysterious phenomenon. The origin is unknown. For its feature, the wide-open mouth, there are several explanations. One is medical: showing your tongue for a diagnosis, and then taking the prescribed medicines. Some gapers have a pill on the tongue or a match in the mouth. Another explanation could be that the patient, overwhelmed by fatigue, lets the mouth hang open. The most common gapers are Easterners with a turban. Furthermore there are fools, police officers, firefighters, Roman soldiers, and the sick.