Archive: People and Markets

Bad news from Brunswick: MDM is apparently preparing to reduce its workforce. Collage: Canva / Wieschowski.

Decline in Print Business: MDM Announces Job Cuts

The Münzhandelsgesellschaft in Brunswick reports a decline in sales and plans to reorganise its sales and develop new products.

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Have We Reached the Limit? 2-Euro Collectors Are Giving Up In the Face of a Myriad of Varieties

Collecting coins is a hobby that is not only educational but, at its best, should provide lasting pleasure. However, if you look at the relevant online forums, Facebook groups and Discord servers, you get the impression that more and more 2-euro collectors are no longer enjoying their hobby.

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John Mussell with Carol Hartmann. Photo: UK.

John Mussell 1942-2023

The founder of Token Publishing Ltd. died after a short illness at the age of 81. He made many friends in the numismatic world over the years. His wife Carol and his son Philip will carry on his legacy.

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The British Museum suffered what was probably the largest theft in its history and a scandal that shook the institution to its core. Photo: hurk / Pixabay.

Red Alert at the British Museum

Thousands of objects have disappeared from the British Museum – allegedly stolen by a senior curator. The matter was uncovered by an antiquities dealer, whose warnings fell on deaf ears. The museum’s director has stepped down, and this seems to be merely the tip of the iceberg.

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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.
A postcard of the 1906 Olympic Games. In front: Gilded silver medal for a winner of the 1906 Olympic Games. From Künker auction 408 (18-19 May 2024), No. 122.

The Olympic Games That Are No Longer Recognized

In 1906, the IOC and the country of Greece invited athletes from all over the world to the Olympic Games in Athens. The Games had a lasting impact on the ceremonies surrounding the sporting showdown, even though the IOC no longer recognizes these Olympics today. A winner’s medal from the Games will be auctioned by Künker on 18 June 2024.
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