Archive: People and Markets

Swiss Linguistic Diversity Gold Coin

The latest Swiss gold coin “Swiss Language Diversity” honors cultural diversity and multilingualism as the very essence of Switzerland.

Imperial Impressions – New Exhibition at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna

A new temporary exhibition at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna is exploring medals as a form of art and a tool of courtly representation for the House of Habsburg. The focus is also on the court medalists.

“Rich Man, Poor Man: Art, Class, and Commerce in a Late Medieval Town”. Photo by Bruce Schwarz Courtesy of The Met.

Rich and Poor in Early Tudor England

The Met Cloisters takes you into a merchant’s house in 16th-century England. Why did a rich man exhibit images of the poor? Intriguing objects tell us about tastes and self-expression. And you can expect coins to be there too!

Correction: We made a mistake!

The news we published yesterday about the Coin of the Year Award was erroneous.

Archive: Coins, Medals and more

Switzerland’s Special Coin 200 Years Swiss Shooting Sport Federation Hits the Bull’s Eye

What do you think of when you hear “Switzerland” and “shooting”? Do you think of shooting talers, William Tell, and/or the Swiss Federal Shooting Competition? Vito Noto told Ursula Kampmann what came to mind when he created the design for the newest Swissmint coin.
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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