Archive: People and Markets

Die Monnaie de Paris will auf der World Money Fair 24 den gesamten Entstehungsprozess einer Münze zeigen.© Viktor Point.

France is the Guest of Honor at the World Money Fair 2024

In 2024, the World Money Fair will feature a country as guest of honor again: The Monnaie de Paris represents France at the world’s largest coin fair, taking place from February 2 to 4 at the Estrel Congress Center in Berlin.

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Milchflecken und abblätternde Farbe: Die Qualität deutscher Sammlermünzen gibt Anlass zur Sorge. Doch nicht nur Deutschland ist betroffen. Münzbilder: Sebastian Wieschowski, Hintergrund: UK.

An “Error Coin” No Collector Is Happy About

The quality of the country’s collector coins is the subject of heated debate in Germany. This regards silver coins and colour issues. But the problem is not limited to German mints – the phenomenon of “milk spots” in particular is a major concern for coin producers around the world.

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State Minister for Science and Art, Markus Blume (right), with the new Director of the Bavarian State Coin Collection, Dr. Martin Hirsch (left).

Martin Hirsch Becomes the New Director of the Bavarian State Coin Collection

Martin Hirsch has worked at the Bavarian State Coin Collection in Munich for years, and now he has been appointed Director. Dr. Hirsch has a lot planned for his new role.

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Berkshire Coin Hoard. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

2022 Biggest Year for Treasure Finds in the UK

Earlier this year, the British Museum launched the latest Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) Annual Report. This showed that in 2022, over 50,000 archaeological finds were recorded, including 1,378 Treasure cases – the highest ever reported in a single year. See some of the highlights here.

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Archive: Coins, Medals and more

25 Francs in Gold: Swissmint’s New Gold Coin

Since 2022, Swissmint has been issuing 25-franc gold coins. The latest release is a tribute to the history of Swiss gold coinage, combining elements of the first 20-franc piece and the enigmatic 1955 issue, which never entered circulation. And Swissmint also has some interesting plans for the future, as Ursula Kampmann discovered.
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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