Archive: People and Markets

A Visit to the Japan Mint

Japan is a country where cash still plays an important role. Therefore, the Japan Mint is not a single institution but consists of several branches. Ursula Kampmann visited their offices in Saitama. Join her on a tour through the mint!

Pobjoy’s Glacier Series: Saturn

In 2023, Pobjoy Mint has started a six-coin series dedicated to the Antarctic glaciers. The fourth issue features the Saturn Glacier.

Croatia launched a new coin series starting with The Old Town of Varaždin. Photo: Croatian Mint

2-Euro Ticker: New 2-Euro Coins in July 2024

Croatia excites 2-euro collectors with a new city series – and significant improvements in minting quality. Portugal’s online shop has not been running smoothly.

A reconstruction of what the gold necklace probably looked like. Illustration made by archaeologist Thea Eli Gil Bell. © Theo Eli Gil Bell, The Museum of Archaeology, University of Stavanger.

Baldrs Horse: Detectorist Makes “Find of the Century” in Norway

On the Norwegian island of Rennesøy, a metal detectorist recently made an extraordinary gold find that was buried long before the Viking Age. The nine coin-like gold pendants engraved with rare horse symbols discovered along with ten gold beads and three gold rings are the first find of this kind in Norway since the 19th century.

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.

Clémentine d’Orléans: Extraordinary Woman and Coin Collector

Few women have left such a decisive mark on the history of 19th-century Europe as Cleméntine d’Orléans, and yet it was not until 2007 that her life was honored with a biography. Künker is now offering the coin collection that once belonged to this unusual woman.
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