Archive: People and Markets

A Greek gold necklace with horned lion heads on each end. No, this object has not disappeared, but it is listed by the British Museum as „similar to those that are missing.“ Photo: Trustees of the British Museum

Can the British Museum Recover Their Lost Items?

Around 2,000 un-inventoried objects from the Greek-Roman collection of the British Museum were stolen. The museum recently announced the deployment of a task force and recovery program, but will these measures be enough to see the return of the lost objects?

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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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Hoard of Viking Coins Unearthed on the Isle of Man

The Isle of Man’s rich Viking legacy has been further enhanced by the discovery of the Island’s latest treasure hoard.

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Fiasco – A Cautionary Tale of What’s to Come Once the New EU Import Regulation Comes Into Force

If you want to get an idea of how enforcement might work under the European Union’s new import licensing regulation after June 28, 2025, here is a cautionary tale, shared by Ivan Macquisten.

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Archive: Coins, Medals and more

The wedding of Archduke Charles and Zita in 1911. On the left the wedding couple, on the right, 81-year-old Emperor Franz Joseph, whom Charles will succeed as emperor in 1916.

Charles I of Austria-Hungary: A Hapless Emperor Who Was Beatified

In the context of its Summer Auction Sales, Künker will offer the only gold coin of the last Austro-Hungarian Emperor that is available on the market. Johannes Nollé tells the story of this coin and its commissioner, who died in Madeira aged only 35.
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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