The Holy Year on coins and medals

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…

Items found: Carsten Niebuhr reports on treasure troves in wild Kurdistan

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.

The Turks at the gates of Vienna!

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.

Human faces, part 48: Simón Bolívar, South America’s heroic freedom fighter

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 history of South America told by coins from the Lissner Collection

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.

The great Ottoman monetary reform

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…