Archive: People and Markets

Q. David Bowers, foreword by Jeff Garrett, A Guide Book of Morgan Silver Dollars, 7th edition. Whitman Publishing, Atlanta (GA) 2023. Paperback, 336 p., full color, 6 x 9 inches. ISBN: 0794849164. US$24.95.

Q. David Bowers’s New Guide Book of Morgan Silver Dollars

The Morgan Dollars are among the most famous and highly collectible US coins. Dennis Tucker discusses the new 7th edition of Q. David Bowers Guide Book and what makes these coins so fascinating.

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Famous Dacian Helmet Stolen – Thieves Blasted Their Way Into the Museum

On the night of 24 to 25 January, a museum in Assen, Netherlands, was targeted by thieves. They stole four important Dacian gold objects from a temporary exhibition – including the famous Coțofenești helmet. Do we have to worry about it being melted down as well?

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Osaka hosts Expo 2025 and Japan honors this event with the issuing of commemorative coins. Photo: Japan Mint. Background: Luca Florio / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Osaka 2025 World Expo Commemorated with Silver Coin

For Expo2025 Japan plans to issue five different coins. For one of these the Ministry of Finance has released the Design of a 1,000-Yen silver coin.

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Late antique bronze fragments are often interpreted as scrap or recycled material. Image: Universität Bonn.

Conference Report: Coining Values: Bronze between Money and Scrap

A conference in Bonn recently dealt with archaeological bronze finds on the outer borders of the Roman Empire. There is a lack of clarity as to how exactly they are to be understood: were the bronze pieces stashes of value or just waste metal rendered useless? Claire Franklin Werz reports.

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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.
Einer der Höhepunkte von Künker Auktion 395 ist eine spektakuläre Goldmedaille zu 110 Dukaten, die aus dem persönlichen Besitz von Fürst Ferdinand I. von Bulgarien stammt. Diese Medaille führt uns mitten hinein in eine Zeit, in der Bulgarien seine Wirtschaft modernisierte. Der Fürst packte dabei tatkräftig mit an. Und die Eisenbahn spielte dabei eine zentrale Rolle.

Bulgaria, Prince Ferdinand I and the Railroad

One of the highlights of Künker’s auction 395 is a spectacular gold medal with a weight of 110 ductats. It was the personal property of Prince Ferdinand I. of Bulgaria. This medal takes us back into a period when Bulgaria modernized its economy. And the railroad system played a major role in this.
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