Archive: People and Markets

Coin Dealers Targeted by Organized Crime Groups Following Coin Show Attendances

The Numismatic Crime Information Center warns that coin dealers in the USA are being targeted by organized crime, especially after attending coin shows.

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Ulrich Werz 2014 in Cyprus. Photo: Claire Franklin.

Ulrich Werz (1964-2023)

The numismatist Ulrich Werz died on June 14, 2023. He was known for his work on coin finds and his studies on Roman countermarks. Claire Franklin remembers him.

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Illustration: „highyou“ / Canva Pro.

Germany’s New Platform Tax Transparency Act: A Problem for eBay Coin Dealers?

Germany’s new Platform Tax Transparency Act has caused great concern among German coin collectors. Will they have to explain themselves to the tax authorities whenever they sell pieces of their collection? In most cases, the answer is no. Unless their hobby turns into a regular side-line.

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This medal from 2008 commemorates Wacks’ 70th birthday and the 40th anniversary of the Jewish-American Hall of Fame.

Jewish-American Hall of Fame Medal Series Ends after 54 Years

All good things must come to an end, even the longest-running medal series in the United States: Mel Wacks, Director of the Jewish-American Hall of Fame, has announced that the series about important Jewish Americans will not be continued.

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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.

The Birth of the Krugerrand

The South African Krugerrand is the world’s oldest bullion coin. When it was first minted in 1967, the concept of producing a coin that matched the weight of an investment unit – one ounce – was both new and innovative. Learn more about the economic background and the meaning of its design here.
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