Archive: People and Markets

The Cape Mint: The Oldest Private Mint in South Africa

Did you think the South African Mint was the only mint in South Africa? That’s not true. In the heart of Cape Town, a small private mint fulfills all customer needs. I was privileged to visit the Cape Mint and met people there who take great pride in their work.

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Museum of American Finance Announces New Exhibit Headquarters

The Museum of American Finance, a Smithsonian affiliate, is relocating to Boston with a new 5,400 sq ft space set to open on July 1, 2026. This marks its first permanent exhibit location since leaving 48 Wall Street in New York in 2018 after a flood damaged the facility but spared its renowned collections.

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2023 Was a Record Year for Archaeological Finds in the UK

The British Museum has launched the latest Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) Annual Report, showing a record high of 74,506 finds recorded by the public in 2023. See some of the highlights here.

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The 2025 AIA Annual Meeting 2025 will take place in Philadelphia. Image: 12019 via Pixabay.

Call for Papers: AIA Annual Meeting 2025

The Numismatics Interest Group of the Archaeological Institute of America invites abstracts on ancient coins and archaeology for the AIA Annual meeting 2025. They can be submitted until 28th February 2024.

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Archive: Coins, Medals and more

Karl Ludwig von Bruck, the mastermind behind the Vienna Coinage Treaty. We chose not to depict Emperor Franz Josef I at this point, who is shown on the coins, but the liberal politician Karl Ludwig von Bruck. Born into the family of a bookbinder in Elberfeld (now Wuppertal, Germany), he worked his way up from a merchant’s position to become Austria’s finance minister. He could almost be described as a beacon of hope for Austrian economic policy. It was tragic – and not just for him personally – that Franz Josef “ungraciously” dismissed him in April 1860 on false suspicions. The then 61-year-old took his own life. This deprived Austria of an imaginative politician who might have prevented its economic marginalization by Prussia.

A War Fought with Unusual Weapons: How Prussia Used Finance and Politics to Force the Habsburg Hereditary Lands Out of the German Confederation

On 26 March 2024, the Künker auction house will offer the Tursky Collection with coins of Emperor Franz Joseph I. We use specimens from this collection to tell the story of how Prussia used its economic sway to become the sole hegemonic power in Germany.
Napoleon III, painting by Alexandre Cabanel, around 1865. It was the favourite portrait of Empress Eugénie because it was the most accurate depiction of him.

French History in Coins – Part 3: A New Napoleon

Under Emperor Napoleon III, France experienced an economic upswing. The Paris cityscape was completely revamped, just as coin designs. The gold rush in the US thrust Europe’s silver money into a crisis. The answer came from France.
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