Archive: People and Markets

Late antique bronze fragments are often interpreted as scrap or recycled material. Image: Universität Bonn.

Conference Report: Coining Values: Bronze between Money and Scrap

A conference in Bonn recently dealt with archaeological bronze finds on the outer borders of the Roman Empire. There is a lack of clarity as to how exactly they are to be understood: were the bronze pieces stashes of value or just waste metal rendered useless? Claire Franklin Werz reports.

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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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You can find Achaemenid and Hellenistic period coin types from the southern Levant in LCO. Image: ANS.

Levantine Coins Online (LCO) Now Live

A new digital database is now available online: “Levantine Coins Online” catalogs Achaemenid and Hellenistic period coin typologies from the southern Levant. The database will be continuously expanded with new areas and collections.

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CoinsWeekly Special Issue for the TICC Tokyo 2025

After overwhelming interest in the last years, we have once again published a printed CoinsWeekly Special Issue for TICC 2025, which takes place in Tokyo from April 26 to 28. If you can’t make it to Tokyo, you can download the PDF here.

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Archive: Coins, Medals and more

The Suffering of Leiden – A Siege During the Dutch Revolt

The third part of the Beuth Collection that Künker offers in Auction 420 contains many historically interesting emergency and siege coins. They were issued by the Dutch towns besieged by Spain during the 80 Years' War. One of these towns was Leiden, which to this day commemorates the end of the siege every year with a festival.

Münster, Osnabrück, Passau and the Counts of Lamberg

Münster, Osnabrück and Passau: How are these places related to the Counts of Lamberg? We use coins from Künker’s auction 424 to illustrate how noble families in the Holy Roman Empire climbed the social ladder in early modern times, and explain the reasons for and the consequences of such ascents.
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