Archive: People and Markets

Royal Mint Discontinues Rose Gold Alloy for Sovereign Coins

The Royal Mint has unveiled the Sovereign collection for 2025, alongside a major announcement regarding the coin’s future composition.

Numismatica Centroeuropaea Conference in Legnica

On 16-19 September 2025, the eighth Numismatica Centroeuropaea Conference will take Place in Legnica, Poland. The topic is “Money of the Dynasties.” A dedicated webpage with up-to-date information on the conference is now available.

Vatican Plans a Comeback: New Online Shop Launches in July

This move has nothing to do with the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV but has been in preparation for months: Starting in July 2025, the Vatican will resume sales of its philatelic and numismatic products.

The Bank Negara Malaysia. Image: Wee Hong via Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0.

ICOMON Annual Conference 2023: Take a Look at the Program

The ICOMON Annual Conference will be held in in Malaysia from 16-18th November 2023. The program is now available for download online.

Archive: Coins, Medals and more

Coins on Coins: When Numismatic Legends Are Reborn

Switzerland receives much acclaim for its redesign of the 100-franc Vreneli. Yet, success is not a given—numerous challenges arise for mints and artists alike.
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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