Archive: People and Markets

The IADAA-logo.

Happy Birthday! The IADAA Turns 30

The International Association of Dealers in Ancient Art (IADAA) celebrates its 30th anniversary. James Ede, one of the founding fathers, remembers his personal experiences in the association and the antiquities trade.

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Investigators found 18 gold lumps in the possession of one suspect. The composition of the metal indicates that the lumps were created by melting down the Celtic hoard. Photo: Bavarian Criminal Investigation Department.

Further Investigations into the Stolen Celtic Coin Hoard

Following police success in the case of the stolen Celtic gold hoard, the authorities have made additional details public. It appears that the perpetrators were professionals, but their professionalism was their undoing.

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In diesem Gebäude in Helsinki befand sich die ursprüngliche finnische Münzstätte seit 1864. 1988 zog die Produktion in eine moderne Anlage in Vantaa um. Doch bald werden auch dort die Maschinen stillstehen. Foto: I99pema via Wikicommons / CC BY-SA 4.0.

The End of Mint of Finland

Mint of Finland will close its doors in the spring of 2025. The Board of Directors of Mint of Finland announced this decision on 28 August 2024. Ursula Kampmann sums up the situation.

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Können Sie sich vorstellen, wie eine ganze Million Münzen aussieht? Foto: vetkit via Shutterstock.)

What to Do With a Million Pennies?

Imagine you are cleaning out the house of a late relative and find 1 million cent coins in the process. What would you do with them? This is what happened to a California family. Why had this huge amount of coins been amassed? And what could they be worth?

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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.
Background: Kremnica. Photo: Lukkon / CC BY-SA 4.0.

The First Years of Czechoslovak Coinage

SINCONA will auction off an impressive collection of Czechoslovak patterns. The offer includes a pattern for the Wenceslas Ducat of which only two specimens exist. Moreover, the sale features the very specimen of the Wenceslas Ducat that President Mazaryk gave to the family of the murdered Finance Minister Rašín.
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