Archive: People and Markets

The Capitoline Museum is home of some of the most important cultural goods of Italy. Image: Suicasmo via Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Legal Head of Italian Culture Ministry: “Fiendishly Extensive” Proofs Bar Imports

A significant statement on the importation of numismatic goods was issued in June 2023 by the legal department of the Italian Ministry of Culture. Read an analysis by Valentina Tarquini for Cultural Property News here.

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The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (in the centre) is the tallest building in Harare. Photo: Baynham Goredema from Johannesburg, South Africa / CC BY 2.0

Zimbabwe Issues Digital Gold Tokens for Investors

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe offers Gold-backed digital tokens for investment. The offer closed on 10 May 2023.

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How the Romans Made Counterfeits

Counterfeits have been around in ancient Roman times, too – usually, they were cast from a copper-tin alloy. Researchers at the University of Tübingen examined the counterfeiting process and reconstructed it experimentally. A video documents their experiment.

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In addition to high-caliber exhibits, this rat is also part of the show. The character from Horrible Histories guided young visitors through the exhibition. Horrible Histories® is a registered trademark. Written by Terry Deary. Illustrations © Martin Brown.

Life in the Roman Army: An Exhibition of the British Museum

The British Museum presents a look at one of the most famous fighting forces of all time: the Roman army. Spectacular artifacts from around the globe will be on display in London for the first time. A prominent partner has been brought on board for young visitors.

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Archive: Coins, Medals and more

Swissmint Patterns at Numismatica Genevensis SA

Numismatica Genevensis will offer Swissmint patterns at auction on 9 and 10 December 2024. Some of these patterns belong to a commemorative coin that will not even be released until 2025. All of these patterns are true rarities – ranging from unique to a maximum of four pieces in existence!
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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