Archive: People and Markets

How the Romans Made Counterfeits

Counterfeits have been around in ancient Roman times, too – usually, they were cast from a copper-tin alloy. Researchers at the University of Tübingen examined the counterfeiting process and reconstructed it experimentally. A video documents their experiment.

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You can find Achaemenid and Hellenistic period coin types from the southern Levant in LCO. Image: ANS.

Levantine Coins Online (LCO) Now Live

A new digital database is now available online: “Levantine Coins Online” catalogs Achaemenid and Hellenistic period coin typologies from the southern Levant. The database will be continuously expanded with new areas and collections.

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Eisleben, Germany: Church Treasure Recovered After Almost 400 Years

What a find: last year, a hoard of 864 coins was discovered in a sandstone figure in a church in Eisleben, Germany. The coins were hidden there during the Thirty Years’ War and provide a rare insight into the currency in circulation at that time. A coin expert from the region tells us more about it.

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World Money Fair ‘Minting Experience Centre’: Minting up Close!

The organizers of the World Money Fair have come up with something special for the upcoming event. The new Minting Experience Center that spans over 100 square meters showcases the production steps involved in minting coins. Guests will even have the chance to mint their own World Money Fair collector’s medal.

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Archive: Coins, Medals and more

VOC: The Other Side of the Dutch Golden Age

VOC coins tell the story of the Netherlands’ colonial past. The States General granted the VOC all the rights of an independent state: it could declare war, make treaties and issue its own currency. Join us on a trip to Indonesia, the place where the spices grew that financed the Dutch Golden Age.

Münster, Osnabrück, Passau and the Counts of Lamberg

Münster, Osnabrück and Passau: How are these places related to the Counts of Lamberg? We use coins from Künker’s auction 424 to illustrate how noble families in the Holy Roman Empire climbed the social ladder in early modern times, and explain the reasons for and the consequences of such ascents.
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