Bullion coins part 5: Libertad
There are bullion coins that simply bear a wonderful name, for instance the Mexican Libertad, liberty, the bullion coin of the United Mexican States. It tells the story of the Aztec and Mexican past.
Entries by Ursula Kampmann
Charles Borromeo – The Saint of the Counter-Reformation, Part 2
Charles Borromeo was considered ‘the’ saint of the Counter-Reformation. In this three-part series, we will tell you about his life. The second episode focuses on the career of Saint Charles Borromoeo and his conversion.
Charles Borromeo – The Saint of the Counter-Reformation, Part 3
Charles Borromeo was considered ‘the’ saint of the Counter-Reformation. In this three-part series, we will tell you about his life. The third episode focuses on the afterlife of the Saint who was used and utilized by the Church and his relatives in their favor.
Charles Borromeo –The Saint of the Counter-Reformation, Part 1
Charles Borromeo was considered ‘the’ saint of the Counter-Reformation. In this three-part series, we will tell you about his life. The first episode informs about the constitution of the church that made Charles Borromeo great before he became the epitome of the reform.
The courtesan Laïs in Corinth
Sex sells. That is common knowledge to the yellow press and tour guides alike, as early as ancient times. Already the Corinthians cashed in on that and promoted a tourist attraction of a particular kind: the tomb of the famous courtesan Laïs…
Erasmus of Rotterdam in Basel – part 2: The inheritance of Bonifacius Amerbach
You can still have a look at Erasmus of Rotterdam’s collection until this day, because the collector Bonifacius Amerbach kept it and gave it to the city. In this episode, among other things, you will see the chest, Amerbach kept the estate in.
Magical Numismatics: The Silver Shilling
Numerous novels, travelogues and short stories from the 19th century inform us about the numismatic every-day life. A particularly nice example is one of the more than 160 fairy tales Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) has written.
Recovering Precious Metal: from Grandma’s old silver knife to the new coin blank
Allgemeine is one of the biggest refineries for precious metal in Europe. It has opened its doors to CoinsWeekly. We were allowed to watch the process of transforming silver and gold scrap to pure precious metal blanks. Please join us on this fascinating tour.
Images from a minting workshop of the 16th century
How were coins produced in the 16th century? Only few illustrations provide information about that process. One of the most important is a pane featuring the coat of arms of the Schaffhausen mint master Werner Zentgraf…
Message in a bottle
In 1967 workers of the Austrian Mint found a message in a bottle bricked in a wall. Colleagues who worked in the same building around the turn of the century had left the message in order to inform posterity about their awkward situation.
