Archive: People and Markets

CIT presents: Alcatraz Island

With Alcatraz, CIT presents a coin that takes the depiction of islands to a completely new level. Be it from a bird’s eye view or from the side, the coin depicts the legendary penitentiary complex in great detail and illustrates why the island became a myth.

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Eisleben, Germany: Church Treasure Recovered After Almost 400 Years

What a find: last year, a hoard of 864 coins was discovered in a sandstone figure in a church in Eisleben, Germany. The coins were hidden there during the Thirty Years’ War and provide a rare insight into the currency in circulation at that time. A coin expert from the region tells us more about it.

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Further Thefts at Royal Coin Cabinet Brought to Trial

The systematic thefts at the Royal Coin Cabinet in Stockholm were not committed by one single person. Another employee helped himself to some objects. At present, prosecutors are trying to prove the man stole coins worth more than 3.8 million Swedish kronor, including a Russian family ruble which sold for 510,000 SEK in 2009.

Data Breach During Sale of 2-Euro Coin in Cyprus: How to Avoid Server Crashes

Cyprus wanted to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its EU membership with a 2-euro coin – but the party turned into a fiasco. Even before the start of sales, the server crashed; at times, customers could see the data of other buyers, and to this day, it is unclear whether the central bank will make another attempt to sell the coins.

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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.
A postcard of the 1906 Olympic Games. In front: Gilded silver medal for a winner of the 1906 Olympic Games. From Künker auction 408 (18-19 May 2024), No. 122.

The Olympic Games That Are No Longer Recognized

In 1906, the IOC and the country of Greece invited athletes from all over the world to the Olympic Games in Athens. The Games had a lasting impact on the ceremonies surrounding the sporting showdown, even though the IOC no longer recognizes these Olympics today. A winner’s medal from the Games will be auctioned by Künker on 18 June 2024.
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