Archive: People and Markets

United States Department of State, Washington. Image: AgnosticPreachersKid via Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Your Tax Dollars at Work

Is the State Department funding a crusade against private ownership of cultural goods in the U.S.? Peter Tompa explains how taxpayer money was used to justify cultural property Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) or “emergency import restrictions.”

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From August 2023, the Coin of the Year awards will be presented during the World’s Fair of Money in Pittsburgh.

COTY Awards Have an In-Person Ceremony Again

For many years the Coin of the Year Awards have been given in a ceremony during the World Money Fair in Berlin. In 2023, the program will conduct again an in-person awards ceremony after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic – but in another place.

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Will the International Coin Market Be Affected by the New US Tariff Policy?

America’s tariff regime is dominating the headlines. Yesterday morning (CET), when Ursula Kampmann wrote this article, many countries were under the threat of high punitive tariffs. As of yesterday evening (CET), this is no longer the case. But it is still interesting to consider what would happen in the coin market if punitive tariffs were imposed.

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Foto: RareCoin.Store.

Interview: Are Modern Collector Coins a Sensible Investment?

It is becoming increasingly popular to buy coins as a form of investment, but this can be risky if the buyer lacks the necessary expertise. We spoke to someone who really knows their stuff: Dirk Wasserthal, Managing Director of RareCoin.Store and expert in rarities of modern numismatics, tells us what to look out for.

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Archive: Coins, Medals and more

Joachimsthal and the Reformation

On 29 January 2025, Künker will auction a series of valuable Renaissance medals. They feature biblical topics and were minted in the region of Joachimsthal to spread the teachings of the Reformation. Johannes Mathesius, the author of Luther’s Table Talk, may have been at the origin of some of the motifs.
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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