Archive: People and Markets

Caribbean Guilder: Joint Currency Introduced for Curaçao and Sint Maarten

The new currency replaces the Antillean Guilder, retains its value, and is pegged to the US dollar – with fresh designs inspired by the sea and local culture.

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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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Every Thursday, an automated entry in the Numista forum lists new CoinsWeekly articles.

CoinsWeekly and Numista

Would you like to discuss our latest articles with like-minded people? You can now easily do so in the Numista forum!

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Conference on Ancient Coin Legends in Munich 2025

The conference “Ancient coin legends: composition, design, lexicography, and framing potential” will take place from 26 to 28 June 2025 in Munich, Residenz (Bavarian Academy of Science).

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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.
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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