A Family Reunion of the World of Coins: The 2025 World Money Fair
by Daniel Baumbach
Every year, the World Money Fair is a very special experience. So it’s no wonder that thou-sands of people from all over the world travel to Berlin when the world’s largest coin fair opens its doors. Of course, we were there, too.
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Photo: World Money Fair/Constanze Tillmann
Every time we look for a word to describe what the World Money Fair is for us, we end up with the metaphor of a family reunion. Not a small one, of course, but a gigantic one. It is as if all the members of the coin family from all over the world were coming together. Many have known each other for years. Not all of them speak to each other very often. But what unites them all is the subject of coins. So this year they all came together again in Berlin: Dealers – from the lone fighter to large auction houses –, collectors, coin enthusiasts, mints, the entire supply industry and everything else that goes with it, like us as journalists. This is what makes the WMF so special. So let’s take a look at what happened at this year’s numismatic family reunion.
Künker’s flagship sale. Photo: World Money Fair/Constanze Tillmann
The Fair Before the Fair
Anyone familiar with the World Money Fair knows that it starts long before the official opening. Big business is already being done in the hotel conference rooms. Of course, not everything happens behind closed doors. On Wednesday, the day before the opening, Künker held its traditional Berlin auction sale. The total estimate for the auction had amounted to a staggering 10 million euros for 701 lots. The hammer price of 15 million euros was 50% higher. The most expensive piece in the auction came from Poland. Estimated at 150,000 euros, the 10-ducat piece from 1629 bearing the monogram of the Swedish-born King Sigismund III sold for an impressive 340,000 euros.
As every year, Dieter Merkle and Thomas Hogenkamp presented the Technical Forum. Photo: DB.
Robert Newman of CarveCo on the role of KI in the design process. Photo: World Money Fair/Constanze Tillmann.
Romain Waidelich of Inorcoat speaks about PVD coating, a technology to make dies more durable in an eco-friendly way and can be used to coat coins. Photo: DB.
Oliver Heinrich of Soldati AG on the new packaging machines that are used at Swissmint. Photo: DB.
The Technical Forum
In the afternoon, the supply industry met for the 21st time at the Technical Forum to present the latest developments that will change the minting industry over the coming years. These included the role of AI in coin design (CarveCo); the use of tooling lasers (GF Machining Solutions), which allows increasingly complex design options; making dies more durable without environmentally harmful chromium (Inorcoat, among others); automation of packaging (Soldati AG) and the optimisation of the refining process (IKOI SPA). The Kazakhstan Mint explained to experts how it produced the “Balkhash Perch” coin, which caused a sensation in 2023 with its enormous high relief. The Royal Canadian Mint presented the new 10-kilo version of the Silver Maple Leaf.
Left to right: Jan Niklas Betz of Swissmint, Daniela Schneider, deputy ambassador of Switzerland, and fair organiser Goetz-Ulf Jungmichel. Photo: World Money Fair/Constanze Tillmann.
The reception at the Swiss Embassy. Photo: UK.
Award for Manfred Dunker (right) at the reception of Samlerhuset Group. On the left: Ole Bjørn Fausa of Samlerhuset. Photo: UK.
That was by no means all that happened before the fair. There was an evening reception at the Swiss Embassy in Berlin – after all, Switzerland was this year’ guest of honour. At a reception hosted by the Samlerhuset Group, Manfred Dunker was honoured, who has been a driving force in the field of commemorative coins since the 1980s and played a key role in the establishment of MDM.
The opening of the fair! Photo: MM.
Large crowds filled the halls. Photo: DB.
There were long queues in the morning at the booths selling limited edition coin sets and the like. Photo: World Money Fair/Constanze Tillmann.
The Wait is Over
Then Thursday came and the wait was over. The ribbon was cut, the show opened and the crowds began to pour in. On all days, the first few minutes were quite hectic as some visitors were very keen to get to the booths in time to get their hands on strictly limited special offers. This sometimes led to rushes and jostling. However, the experienced show organisers were always quick to respond to any problems that arose, which was reflected in changes to the ticketing and entry system from day 2.
Inside the large Convention Hall. Photo: DB.
Always present at the WMF: the SINCONA team. Photo: AnPa.
With a new design at the usual location: The Künker booth. Photo: IMC.
At the booth of Gorny & Mosch. Photo: LL.
There were treasures at every corner. Photo: LL
So nothing stood in the way of the hustle and bustle of the fair. It was much the same as every year: bustling activity at the dealers’ tables, new products and fresh ideas of all kinds at the mints’ booths, and enthusiastic exchanges with like-minded people at every turn. The love of coins was in the air.
Yodellers and alphorns were omnipresent on the first day. Whether here at the gala evening … (Photo: DB)
… or at the CIT booth, perfectly in line with the new Matterhorn issue in the background. Photo: CIT.
Guest of Honor: Swissmint
The sound of alphorns and yodelling was also in the air, at least from time to time. As the guest of honour, Swissmint took every opportunity to spread an alpine atmosphere, the like of which is rarely experienced in Berlin. The traditional gala dinner hosted by Swissmint on the evening of the first day of the fair was refreshingly different and turned into a veritable party.
The Swissmint booth. Photo: World Money Fair/Constanze Tillmann.
In an interview with CoinsWeekly, Jan Niklas Betz, Head of Marketing & Sales at Swissmint, said he was very pleased with the good cooperation and the free play he was given. Of course, Swissmint had more in store: numbered coin sets and a competition in which a gold coin could be won every day made the booth a hotspot at the fair. The wonderful chocolate may also have played a role.
Chiara Principe and Jan Niklas Betz unveil the new issue at the Media Forum. Photo: World Money Fair/Constanze Tillmann.
The centrepiece was Switzerland’s new commemorative coin, which Jan Niklas Betz unveiled together with artist Chiara Principe. The issue marks the 100th anniversary of the 100-franc gold Vreneli of 1925. Read more about this novelty in this article.
In the technical hall you can see all kinds of machines that play a role in the production of coins. This one from Inorcoat, for example, hardens dies using an environmentally friendly process. Photo: World Money Fair/Constanze Tillmann.
The Minting Experience Center allowed visitors to discover the secrets of coin production. Photo: World Money Fair/Constanze Tillmann.
In the end, you held a souvenir in your hands that you had minted yourself. Photo: DB.
From Blanks to Minted Medals – The Minting Experience Center
There is something that sets the World Money Fair apart from all other coin fairs. To find it, you have to go to Convention Hall II, which is a bit behind the other halls. This is where you will find the representatives of the minting industry with their large machines. We have often recommended that our readers take the time to visit this hall, as it will give you a much better understanding of contemporary minting.
This year, the World Money Fair team has come up with something to help visitors understand the work of the minting industry even better: the Minting Experience Centre. In this area of the technical hall, visitors were able to follow the various production steps of minting and could lend a hand themselves. At the end, they held their own minted medal – complete with edge lettering, colouring and laser engraving. As a bonus, the medal came with a whole new understanding of how coins are made today. It was a great idea that worked well and made the most of the potential of the fair.
At the CoinsWeekly booth, you could have your picture taken with Frederick the Great. Photo: DB
And this could be quite funny. Photo: DB.
Falk Liebnitzky, Head of Marketing at CIT. Photo: DB.
Fair organiser Goetz-Ulf Jungmichel. Photo: DB.
Ulrich Künker of the Künker auction house. Photo: DB.
ANA President Thomas Uram. Photo: DB.
A Royal Visit at the CoinsWeekly Booth
This year, for the second time, we had our own booth at the WMF, just to the right of the entrance. Here we had not only reading material in the form of our CoinsWeekly Special Issue, but also a royal visit. Frederick the Great of Prussia himself did the honours at the booth – perhaps he was just a very good actor, we’re not quite sure – and posed for photos. We were pleased to discover that he was a real eye-catcher. Numerous visitors wanted to have their photo taken and print it out to take home as a souvenir. We were delighted to see many beaming visitors of all ages, who often showed a kind of childlike enthusiasm when their photo with Old Fritz was handed to them. We also enjoyed many good conversations with old and new friends
Looking Forward to Next Time!
Before you knew it, the family reunion of the coin world was over. Everyone is exhausted but already looking forward to next year. The fair was undoubtedly well attended, especially in the morning hours. In the afternoon it was quieter, in our opinion even quieter than in previous years. The fact that the large and noticeable catch-up effect after the Covid period has now subsided may have played a role in this. The increase in ticket prices may also have had an impact. All in all, the fair organisers should be extremely satisfied with this year’s World Money Fair. Unfortunately, even moving the last day from Sunday to Saturday could not break the usual fair curse of packing up early in the afternoon on the last day. We therefore recommend: If you’re only coming for one day, don’t come on the last day. Then nothing stands in the way of the unique World Money Fair experience.
