Archive: People and Markets

Trsat Dragon: A Field Marshal, His Tomb and a Legend

Visitors to the beautiful city of Rijeka are familiar with the two basilisks that stand guard on the Trsat hill in front of Count Laval Nugent of Westmeath’s mausoleum. The Croatian Mint dedicates a gold and a silver commemorative coin to these mythical creatures.

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2026 soll die nächste Fußball-WM gemeinsam von den USA, Kanada und Mexiko ausgetragen werden. Hier eine der Dollar-Münzen, die auf die letzte WM in den USA 1994 herausgegeben wurden. Bild: US-Mint. Im Hintergrund das Giants-Stadion in New Jersey, einer der damaligen Austragungsorte. Foto: JazzyJoeyD / CC BY-SA 4.0.

NICAC Raises Concerns Over 2026 World Cup Commemorative Coins

The Numismatic Industry Coinage Advisory Committee (NICAC) released a report expressing concerns with legislation authorizing the minting of coins commemorating the 2026 FIFA World Cup. This gives us a fascinating insight into what happens behind the scenes when a coin is issued for a major sporting event.

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Investigators found 18 gold lumps in the possession of one suspect. The composition of the metal indicates that the lumps were created by melting down the Celtic hoard. Photo: Bavarian Criminal Investigation Department.

Further Investigations into the Stolen Celtic Coin Hoard

Following police success in the case of the stolen Celtic gold hoard, the authorities have made additional details public. It appears that the perpetrators were professionals, but their professionalism was their undoing.

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This medal from 2008 commemorates Wacks’ 70th birthday and the 40th anniversary of the Jewish-American Hall of Fame.

Jewish-American Hall of Fame Medal Series Ends after 54 Years

All good things must come to an end, even the longest-running medal series in the United States: Mel Wacks, Director of the Jewish-American Hall of Fame, has announced that the series about important Jewish Americans will not be continued.

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Archive: Coins, Medals and more

Why Neuchâtel Is Not Part of France Today

It was a close call – Louis XIV would certainly have swallowed up Neuchâtel in today’s Switzerland if it had not been for Marie de Nemours’ fierce insistence on her rights. We explain the political situation and introduce you to the princess and her coinage. All the pieces shown come from the Bürki Collection and will be on offer in SINCONA’s Auction 95 on 24 October 2024.
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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