Archive: People and Markets

The Palace of Westminster was built between 1840 and 1870 and is a popular photo opportunity every day.

Tiffany Art Metropolis – Palace of Westminster

CIT’s Tiffany issues are among the most coveted rarities on the collectors’ market. This is not only due to their innovative inlay but also to the high level of minting technology and the attention to detail. In 2023 it is London’s turn with the Palace of Westminster. The playful neo-Gothic architecture of the Victorian age is perfectly suited for such an elaborate design.

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A Force of Nature Embodied in a Coin: CIT’s Lost City – Pompeii

CIT has captured the dramatic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the year 79 with a three-dimensional representation. True to scale, and thanks to smartminting® in every detail, we see erupting Vesuvius, pouring its lava over the buildings of the city of Pompeii.

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View of the exhibition. © Ruedi Habegger, Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig.

Major Exhibition on the Iberians in Basel

A major exhibition on the Iberian peoples is currently on display at the Antikenmuseum Basel. In cooperation with the Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya, over 260 important exhibits from the European Iron Age are on display.

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Will the Online Platform “Discord” Become the Coin Club of the Future?

Young collectors are embracing technology from the world of computer games to pursue their hobby. Thousands of coin enthusiasts discuss, trade and compete on gaming servers – and from time to time they meet in European capitals to hunt for rarities.

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Archive: Coins, Medals and more

Contemporary allegory on the Great Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg.

The Great Elector, Taxes and the Rise of Prussia

On 1 February 2024, the Künker auction house will hold its 400th auction sale. Among the 770 lots are very rare issues from the reign of Frederick William of Brandenburg-Prussia. They bear witness to the achievements of the Great Elector, who brought prosperity to a realm devastated by the Thirty Years’ War.
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.
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