A Testimony to the Habsburgs’ Claim to Power: The Three Emperors Issue

Künker offers two gold coins of the so-called Three Emperors Issue as part of the sale of the Salton Collection. We summarize what is known about these mysterious pieces, which are symbolic of Habsburgs’ claim to power.

How to Detect Counterfeits at All Times. Part 2: Austrian Ducats

Are you sure that all your coins are authentic? Particularly popular collector coins are frequently counterfeited. The expert Peter Zgorzynski shows in several articles how counterfeits can be identified. Today we take a closer look at Austrian ducats.

Maximilian I’s Legendary Armor in New York

The armor of the last knight will travel to New York on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of Maximilian’s death. If you want to see these works of art which Maximilian loved to wear when having his coin portraits made, you have to visit the Metropolitan.

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.

The Turks at the gates of Vienna!

Künker Auction 289 will offer coins and medals bringing to mind the quarrel about the legacy of Louis of Hungary and the first Siege of Vienna. They form part of Ottoman Collection featuring coins referring to the difficult relation between the Ottoman Empire and the Occident.

The minters’ pilgrimage

How the mint workers in Vienna were saved from the plague epidemic of 1679…

What is left of the man who invented the taler

The city of Hall is always worth a visit, not only because of its interesting museum on minting technology in the mint tower. Near the parish church, too, a numismatic treasure can be found…

Between Prussia and Austria – The Vienna Coinage Contract

Künker offers a comprehensive selection of coins of Emperor Franz Joseph on September 28, 2011 in sale 195. This is a splendid opportunity to recall the impact of the Vienna Coinage Contract of 1857 on the Austrian currency…

The History of Austria as Reflected in its Paper Money

The history of Austria’s paper money is characterized by ups and downs. The banknotes tell of times of crises, revolutions, and the end of the monarchy. And, of course, of counterfeiters who took advantage of the multinational state’s weaknesses.

Why Sigismund ‘rich in coin’ died a destitute man

The date was February 7th, 1496. Columbus hadn’t returned from his second journey yet, in the realm of the Holy Roman Empire everyone was upset about general taxation which had been decided at the diet at Worms one year ago, and the Syphilis which had been introduced from America spread all over Europe. Much happened those days indeed; and in a secluded chamber in the Innsbruck Residence a lonely man laid dying.