Archive: People and Markets

Correction: We made a mistake!

The news we published yesterday about the Coin of the Year Award was erroneous.

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Study on Investment Behaviour of Women: Gold – Low Risk but High Returns?

The Royal Mint reports a significant rise in female investors, as more women seem to be turning to the gold and silver markets to safeguard their investment portfolios from risks.

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PNG Advisory: No, You Don’t Have A $124 Million Penny

Recent online stories about pennies allegedly worth $124 million and billion-dollar 1976 Bicentennial quarter dollars are either false or grossly misleading, advises the Professional Numismatists Guild.

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Following the indictment of Richard Beale, Italo Vecchi has now also been charged by the Manhattan District Attorney in a case relating to the forged provenance of what used to be the world’s most expensive ancient coin, an EID MAR aureus.

Coin Dealer Italo Vecchi Charged with Grand Larceny

Coin dealer Italo Vecchi has been indicted in Manhattan for first-degree grand larceny as well as other felonies. The charges are related to the trial against Richard Beale and the forged provenance of what used to be the world’s most expensive ancient coin.

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Archive: Coins, Medals and more

Franz Joseph und Sisi, gemalt von Franz Xaver Winterhalter. Davor Rückseite der Hochzeitsmedaille aus dem offiziellen Erinnerungs-Set, aus Auktion Künker 415 (28. Oktober 2024), Nr. 361.

Sisi and Franz: Commemorating the Dream Wedding that Was Actually a Nightmare

As part of the phaleristic auction 415 on 28 October 2024, Künker will be auctioning the set of gold medals that Emperor Franz Joseph presented to his father-in-law, Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria. It is the numismatic souvenir of a wedding that turned out to be a nightmare for his daughter – young Elisabeth, who is better known as Sissi or Sisi today.
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.
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