Archive: People and Markets

The Fascinating World of Insects and Minting Errors: The Misaligned Stag Beetle

A year ago, the paint on coins from the “Fascinating World of Insects” series began to flake off. Now, new anomalies have surfaced—ones that experts find only partially explainable.

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Ein Blick in die Dauerausstellung MONEY! Fotograf: Daniel Gustafsson, Wirtschaftsmuseum.

Swedish Economy Museum Reopened

Ever since the Swedish “Economy Museum – Royal Coin Cabinet” moved to a new location in 2019, there have only been special exhibitions on display. Now, the two permanent exhibitions on the topics of money and the economy were finally opened.

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Many collectors fall victim to fraudulent offers of so-called “error coins”. To prevent you from being one of them, numiscontrol explains how to easily detect fraudulent offers yourself. Image: Gerd Altmann / Pixabay

Beware of This Scam! These Euro Error Coins Are Not Error Coins

The Internet is currently full of so-called “error coins” – and many collectors fall victim to fraudulent offers. Our author numiscontrol explains what you need to know about the minting process to easily notice when something is off.

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“Volodymyr Zelensky” by Jim Licaretz.

2023 American Medal of the Year Award

In 2023, the American Medal of the Year award goes to a medallist who paid tribute to Ukraine and its president. Two other medals were chosen as finalists.

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Archive: Coins, Medals and more

The wedding of Archduke Charles and Zita in 1911. On the left the wedding couple, on the right, 81-year-old Emperor Franz Joseph, whom Charles will succeed as emperor in 1916.

Charles I of Austria-Hungary: A Hapless Emperor Who Was Beatified

In the context of its Summer Auction Sales, Künker will offer the only gold coin of the last Austro-Hungarian Emperor that is available on the market. Johannes Nollé tells the story of this coin and its commissioner, who died in Madeira aged only 35.
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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