Archive: People and Markets

Gilded silver plate, Iran or Afghanistan, probably Parthian or Early Sasanian, probably 2nd–3rd century. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

“Luxury and Power: Persia to Greece” at the British Museum

Over centuries the Persian empire and the Greeks had many conflicts. But nevertheless they influenced each other in many ways, as coins and works of art document. A major exhibition at the British Museum explores the relationship between luxury and power in this time.

Read more
All the seven coins that were purchased by the National Museum of Denmark. Photo: National Museum of Denmark.

National Museum of Denmark Acquires Seven Coins of the Bruun Collection

The National Museum of Denmark used its right of first refusal to buy extremely rare coins from Lars Emil Bruun’s collection before they are to be sold at auction. Here you can see the seven extraordinary pieces!

Read more
Cheyenne, Wyoming. Background: Vasiliymeshko / CC BY-SA 4.0

Suspect Arrested for Double Homicide at Coin Shop Nine Years After the Crime

The double murder of a coin shop owner and a second victim in Cheyenne, Wyoming, lay unsolved for almost a decade. Now a suspect is on trial – the very man who had called the police to the crime scene.

Read more
Ursula Kampmann at the International Conference on Islamic Numismatics.

International Conference on Islamic Numismatics

From 18 to 20 May 2023, the ICIN – the International Conference on Islamic Numismatics – took place in Riyadh, Saudi-Arabia. A complete success! Never before have so many specialists on Islamic numismatics gathered in one place. Ursula Kampmann was there.

Read more

Archive: Coins, Medals and more

The courtyard of the Alcazár of Seville was immortalised on a 2024 2-euro coin from Spain. Photo: Real Casa de la Moneda (coin), javarman3 / Getty Images Pro via Canva Pro

The Secret of the Success of State Quarters, UNESCO Coins and Federal State Series

25 years ago, the United States of America started a new chapter in numismatic history. Their State Quarters became the model for many other successful coin programs – including Spain’s UNESCO World Heritage Site series.
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.
Search Search