Archive: People and Markets

Peter Ilisch (1947–2023). Photo: Verein der Münzfreunde für Westfalen und Nachbargebiete e. V., Axel Obdenbusch.

Peter Ilisch (1947–2023)

Peter Ilisch passed away on 29 May 2023. The former curator in Münster specialised in medieval and early modern Westphalia. As an obituary, we publish the speech of Stefan Kötz, who paid tribute to his predecessor in office at the funeral service.

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Hintergrund: Softcodex via Pixarbay, Helvetia: CoinInvest GmbH via Wikicommons – CC BY-SA 4.0.

Gold Coins With Altered Years: Also a Known Problem in Switzerland

In one of our last issues, we published an article by NGC about a Prussian gold coin with an altered year. Switzerland is also very familiar with such forgeries, as Patrick Huber tells us.

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Now available: Our CoinsWeekly Special Issue for the World Money Fair 2025

We usually publish our printed CoinsWeekly Special for the World Money Fair in German, as it is tailored to all the German visitors. This year, however, we decided to also offer an English version of the issue as a download for our international readers. We hope you enjoy reading it!

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Is the EU Sleepwalking Into an Art Market Nightmare?

Enforcement of import licensing for cultural goods is just two years away, but many serious questions remain over what will happen. A detailed insight into a complicated matter.

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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.
Contemporary allegory on the Great Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg.

The Great Elector, Taxes and the Rise of Prussia

On 1 February 2024, the Künker auction house will hold its 400th auction sale. Among the 770 lots are very rare issues from the reign of Frederick William of Brandenburg-Prussia. They bear witness to the achievements of the Great Elector, who brought prosperity to a realm devastated by the Thirty Years’ War.
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