Archive: People and Markets

Decline in demand: The high gold price means that only a few investors are buying physical gold coins. Collage: Canva.

Gold at Record High, Demand for Bullion Coins Collapses

While the gold price has reached new all-time highs several sessions in recent weeks and gained around 20 per cent in value in a short period of time in a steep upward trend, several mints are reporting a drastic decline in sales in the precious metal sector.

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INORCOAT: How to Make Minting More Sustainable

Are you annoyed by all the laws that make our lives more difficult but have no positive effect? Here’s an example of a law that actually makes sense: the planned ban on chromium (VI) electroplating is helping an innovative technology to make a breakthrough – and this development brings decisive advantages for the minting industry. Romain Waidelich of INORCOAT takes us behind the scenes.

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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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Al was mentor to many young people in numismatics. Image provided by Stephen Album Rare Coins.

Dr. Albert J. Beck (1935-2024)

Dr. Albert (“Al”) J. Beck passed on Wednesday, June 12, 2024. Our friends from Stephen Album Rare Coins shared this obituary for their colleague with us.

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Archive: Coins, Medals and more

A Medal Made by Dürer as the Official Gift of the City of Nuremberg for Charles V

On 29 January 2025, auction house Künker will be auctioning an object of major art-historical importance in Berlin: the very Albrecht Dürer himself had been commissioned by the Nuremberg City Council to create the dies for medals that were to be officially handed to Charles V during his entry into the city in 1521.
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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