Do you know what the Church understands by a ‘Holy Year’? Initially, it was created as a special attraction for the pilgrims coming to Rome who were promised a plenary indulgence. Today, every Pope has his own year. In this regard, we show you coins from five centuries…
In the service of the King of Denmark, Carsten Niebuhr (1733-1815) travelled through the Orient from 1761 to 1767. His main goal was to prove the Bible right after all. To us numismatists, however, other parts of his report are much more intriguing nowadays.
Künker Auction 289 will offer coins and medals bringing to mind the quarrel about the legacy of Louis of Hungary and the first Siege of Vienna. They form part of Ottoman Collection featuring coins referring to the difficult relation between the Ottoman Empire and the Occident.
Why was the human head the motif on coins for centuries, no, for millennia? And why did that change in the last 200 years? In this episode: Why Bolivia is called Bolivia.
The numismatic history of South America is as fascinating as its political turmoils between the Spanish Conquista and the fight for independence. The Lissner Collection has gathered innumerous numismatic gems and thus illustrates perfectly this intriguing history.
On December 12, 2011, the Osnabrück auction house Künker sells the Sultan Collection of Coins of the Ottoman Empire. These 908 lots reflect the history of the coins of the last Ottoman sultans and the monetary reform of 1845…
Countless coins from the Holy Roman Empire show something many catalogs briefly address as “neck chain” of the Order of the Golden Fleece. This article will explain, when and where this chivalric order originated and why it became the most important order of knights all over the Old World…
The first Chinese coins imitating western models were struck on the island of Formosa, modern-day Taiwan, nearly 200 years before. This article will tell the story, how it came about…
Why was it that Renaissance rulers went to Italy to seek good fortune? Why was it that thousands of ducats and thaler were spent on mercenary soldiers? This article gives an insight into the war between Francis I of France and Charles V of Italy…
Few wars have appealed to people’s emotions like the Dutch War of Independence. The roles seemed to be assigned all too clearly: on the one side there were the evil Catholic Spaniards, on the other the good Protestant Dutchmen. What we omit, however, is that this war was one the first in which propaganda was utilized in full awareness of its effects.
