Archive: People and Markets

What the Second Trump Administration Might Mean for Collectors

What does Donald Trump’s return to the White House mean for collectors in the USA? Will the new Administration help “Make Collecting Great Again” or will it be anti-collecting business as usual at the State Department and other government agencies? Predictions are always perilous to make, but Peter Tompa has dared to make some nonetheless.

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The Titlis air cable car follows the Klein Matterhorn air cable car.

The Second Issue on Swiss Cable Cars: The Titlis Cable Car

Attention cable car enthusiasts: Swissmint is launching the second issue in its series on Swiss cable cars. The subject of the third and final coin in the series has also already been announced.

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Visit the new Coin Resource Center!

Stack’s Bowers Galleries Launches Coin Resource Center

Stack’s Bowers Galleries announced the launch of their Coin Resource Center. The new website is a detailed reference guide for all U.S. coins with historical backgrounds of each U.S. Mint and insightful Collector Guides.

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Professor Rory Naismith holding a Byzantine silver coin in the Fitzwilliam Museum. Photo: Adam Page.

Where Did Silver Come from in Early Medieval Europe?

In the mid-7th century, a veritable silver coin boom set off in the North Sea Region. So far, the question of where the silver for the coins came from was up for speculation. A new study provides concrete results.

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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.
Einer der Höhepunkte von Künker Auktion 395 ist eine spektakuläre Goldmedaille zu 110 Dukaten, die aus dem persönlichen Besitz von Fürst Ferdinand I. von Bulgarien stammt. Diese Medaille führt uns mitten hinein in eine Zeit, in der Bulgarien seine Wirtschaft modernisierte. Der Fürst packte dabei tatkräftig mit an. Und die Eisenbahn spielte dabei eine zentrale Rolle.

Bulgaria, Prince Ferdinand I and the Railroad

One of the highlights of Künker’s auction 395 is a spectacular gold medal with a weight of 110 ductats. It was the personal property of Prince Ferdinand I. of Bulgaria. This medal takes us back into a period when Bulgaria modernized its economy. And the railroad system played a major role in this.
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