Tag Archive for: History

Assassins of Caesar

Coins featuring the portrait of Brutus are extremely rare. Coin portraits of Cassius, even more so. Thus far, there is only one known coin type which probably depicts the staunch Republican. In the forthcoming Künker Fall Auction 280, you can come face to face with both assassins of Caesar.

Globalisation in Roman times: Trade with India

In the upcoming auction of Künker on 13 March 2017, several interesting aurei are going to be put to auction. They are Indian imitations of Roman gold coins, which bespeak the close trade relations between Rome and the Indian subcontinent.

Meyer Amschel Rothschild, court factor and coin dealer

Meyer Amschel Rothschild worked his way out of the Frankfurt Jewish ghetto and all the way up to court factor in the 18th century. He specialised in coin- and antiquities dealing before becoming the founder of a famous dynasty of bankers.

Medieval Sicily Part 1: The Byzantines

Since ancient times, Sicily has been a cultural melting pot, a junction of Africa and Europe, of West and East. The Byzantines even temporarily moved their capital there.

Making the Case for the Gold Standard: The Coins of Josef Wild

By means of hyperinflation, the German government transferred the cost of World War I onto its citizens. Josef Wild, a simple goldsmith from Nuremberg, tried to do something about it. He died in prison as a counterfeiter of coins.

Trade Coins of Frederick II

On 2nd July 2014, the Osnabrück auction house Künker can celebrate a jubilee. It is going to conduct its 250th auction sale on that very day. It goes without saying that this calls for something special to be auctioned off: The Masuren Collection – Coins of the Kingdom of Prussia. It includes rarities of the Prussian coinage in the best state of preservation. That is a wonderful opportunity to look at the trade coins of Frederick the Great in detail.

Human faces, part 38: Henry VIII and the second of his six wives

That Henry VIII had an entire collection of wives in his lifetime is not news. But can you remember all of them? In this episode of “Human faces”, we will tell the story of his second wife, Anne Boleyn.

How much for a castle?

What do you think, how much did it cost to build a castle in the Middle Ages? What would it cost to build the exact same castle today? And how much of a small town’s income would the costs have taken up? This article gives you the answers to these questions.

Human faces, part 39: The price of power

Possessing colonies with vast resources of silver, Spanish king Philip II could have helped his kingdom to enormous economic prosperity. But even the largest treasure of silver could not realise Philip’s power-hungry fantasy of proselytizing half of Europe.

Human faces, part 25: The Saint of Halberstadt

Why was the human head the motif on coins for centuries, no, for millennia? And why did that change in the last 200 years? This episode’s coin features the head of Saint Stephen, who once saved the Bishopric of Halberstadt from its liquidation.