Archive: People and Markets

Leu Numismatik Sponsors the New Friedrich Imhoof-Blumer Fellowship in Winterthur

Leu Numismatik is supporting the new Friedrich Imhoof-Blumer Fellowship at the Coin Cabinet in Winterthur, which will be awarded for the first time in 2025. The fellowship, endowed with CHF 3,000, is aimed at early-career researchers working on a numismatic project. Application deadline: June 30, 2025.

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Können Sie sich vorstellen, wie eine ganze Million Münzen aussieht? Foto: vetkit via Shutterstock.)

What to Do With a Million Pennies?

Imagine you are cleaning out the house of a late relative and find 1 million cent coins in the process. What would you do with them? This is what happened to a California family. Why had this huge amount of coins been amassed? And what could they be worth?

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Study on Investment Behaviour of Women: Gold – Low Risk but High Returns?

The Royal Mint reports a significant rise in female investors, as more women seem to be turning to the gold and silver markets to safeguard their investment portfolios from risks.

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Dunkle Wolken über dem British Museum? Eine solche Belagerungsklippe aus Newark wurde bei einer Hands-On Führung gegen eine Replik ausgetauscht. Das hier abgebildete Exemplar liegt im Münzkabinett Berlin und ist von 1646. Objektnummer 18268995, Aufnahme durch Christian Stoess. Hintergrund: hulkiokantabak via Pixabay.

The British Museum: When Theft Becomes PR

Once again, the BM made negative headlines: Ilé Sartuzi stole a coin unnoticed during a hands-on tour and declared this an artistic performance. A commentary by Ursula Kampmann.

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Archive: Coins, Medals and more

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.
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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