Archive: People and Markets

Pop Culture & Coins Unite! The National Coin Week 2025

What do Homer Simpson, the Olympic games, Elvis Presley, and Superman have in common? They’ve all been featured, or will soon be featured, on coins. This year’s annual National Coin Week, April 20-26, 2025, explores the fascinating ways pop culture influences money.

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Lady Liberty meets Britannia – a special moment for coin collectors and bullion investors. Photo: Royal Mint / US Mint

Two Powerful Women – a Premiere in Gold and Silver

The British Royal Mint and the United States Mint collaborated to create a joint issue combining the well-known coin motifs of Lady Liberty and Britannia. They went all the way and had the chief engravers of both mints group up for a one-of-a-kind partnership.

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Introducing Nanoshine: CIT’s Butterfly

CIT’s Butterfly seems delicate, fragile and beautiful, just like its real-life model. The technical marvel behind it only becomes apparent at second glance. Nanoshine is a completely new technology with the potential to transform the aesthetics of coin design.

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Will the International Coin Market Be Affected by the New US Tariff Policy?

America’s tariff regime is dominating the headlines. Yesterday morning (CET), when Ursula Kampmann wrote this article, many countries were under the threat of high punitive tariffs. As of yesterday evening (CET), this is no longer the case. But it is still interesting to consider what would happen in the coin market if punitive tariffs were imposed.

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Archive: Coins, Medals and more

Image detail from “The last viaduct before entering the Trieste railway station”, image: SLUB Dresden. Public Domain Mark 1.0. PPN 337170053. In front: Double vereinstaler 1857. From Auction Künker 308, No. 471.

A Commemorative Coin Celebrating the Completion of Austria’s Southern Railway

Commemorative coins were issued far less frequently in the 19th century than today. The fact that Emperor Franz Joseph dedicated a commemorative coin to the Austrian Southern Railway is therefore testimony to the outstanding importance of this line. In auction 408, Künker is offering two of only 1,644 specimens minted.
Napoleon III, painting by Alexandre Cabanel, around 1865. It was the favourite portrait of Empress Eugénie because it was the most accurate depiction of him.

French History in Coins – Part 3: A New Napoleon

Under Emperor Napoleon III, France experienced an economic upswing. The Paris cityscape was completely revamped, just as coin designs. The gold rush in the US thrust Europe’s silver money into a crisis. The answer came from France.
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