Archive: People and Markets

Lars Emil Bruun (1852–1923): From the Local Inn to an International Enterprise

The auction of the exceptional Bruun collection, 100 years after the collector’s death, has attracted a great deal of attention. But who was Bruun as a person? What inspired him? On behalf of Stack’s, Ursula Kampmann went in search of Bruun’s personality and compiled a short biography.

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Exclusive Presentation of the Latest Commemorative Coin: The 100-Franc Gold Vreneli Returns After 100 Years

At the World Money Fair, Swissmint unveiled its latest commemorative coin to mark a special anniversary: on 1 July 2025, the coin “100 Years of the 100-Franc Vreneli” will be released – a tribute to the original edition from 1925.

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Prof. Aleksander Bursche next to Ursula Kampmann at the INC 2022 in Warsaw, organized by the Polish numismatist. Photo: CoinsWeekly.

Aleksander Bursche Receives GIG Honorary Prize 2023

Aleksander Bursche will receive the 2023 Honorary Prize of the Gesellschaft für Internationale Geldgeschichte (GIG, Association for International History of Money). Not only his numismatic research work was decisive for this.

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Precious Metals Future Forum 2025: Between Geopolitical Uncertainty and Digital Transformation

The inaugural Precious Metals Future Forum in Frankfurt has highlighted how profoundly the precious metals industry is undergoing change – economically, geopolitically, and technologically.

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Archive: Coins, Medals and more

Sotheby’s, The One (2nd February 2024), lot 8: The 2nd May 1840 Penny Black Cover. Estimate: $1,500,000 – $2,500,000.

The First Piece of Mail Sent Using a Stamp to Be Offered at Sotheby’s

A Penny Black affixed to a Mulready envelope is among the most valuable items in Philately ever offered at auction. The earliest posted envelope using a prepaid stamp, dating to 1840, will be sold at Sotheby’s with an estimate of $1.5–2.5 million.
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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