“This silver is normally in a safe and only a few people know where that safe is and it will remain that way”, says Frank van Loon of the foundation Beheer Gilde Attributen. Just out of the safe environment of the vault and on Frank’s table, age-old Brabant guild silver is on display. “We currently keep this guild silver under our own management because in the past quite a bit of silver has disappeared from the disbanded Brabant guilds, also at Brabant museums and municipalities.”
Very recently, the Beheer Gilde Attributen foundation briefly stepped out, which is unique because it prefers to work quietly in the background.
“We got publicity at a meeting in Zundert. There, things were handed over to us from the sleeping guild of Sint Sebastiaan in Rijsbergen,” says Frank van Loon. “That is a guild that has ceased to exist, they have given us the belongings of the ancient guild for safekeeping.”
“Among the things that we will keep ‘forever’ is the historically very important silver of the guild that was founded in 1616 and we handle it very carefully. The silver is packed in acid-free plastic and is then placed in crates without glue. Those boxes are then placed in an airtight space in a safe. So it is well preserved,” says Van Loon.
He emphasizes that the silver is and remains the property of the guild and that the location of the safe is and will remain secret.
“We keep it for them in anticipation of better times. If there is serious interest in bringing the sleeping guild back to life in the future, they will get their now dormant legacy back. That is the agreement that is laid down in a contract.”
The sleeping guild of Sint Sebastiaan is now the fourth guild that has placed its own heritage with the foundation Beheer Gilde Attributen. “Established out of sheer necessity”, says Van Loon. “Because practice teaches us that in the past things from disbanded guilds, which were housed in museums and/or municipalities, simply disappeared. Including the silver, without a trace.”
Guild brother in heart and soul Frank van Loon does not expect that the four sleeping guilds, which until now have entrusted their silver to the foundation Beheer Gilde Attributen, will soon be revived.
“I don’t think in the short term. I expect it will take ten to fifteen years before there is a revival. You see through the history of those waves. Then guilds are popular and sometimes they are not. Especially in the Brabant villages, the guilds are still deeply rooted in society, in the larger cities it is almost gone.”
The costs of the ‘conservation foundation’ are around 1500 euros per year. “It doesn’t seem like much, but we have a lot of trouble collecting that amount every year,” says the guild brother.
“We look at and rely a little on the province. After all, dealing with its own heritage is ‘highly important to them.’ That is convenient, because we guarantee that the heritage of sleeping guilds will not be lost.”