Tag Archive for: Holy Roman Empire

Parade of the “Lange Kerls” (Long Guys)

They were his special hobby, the “Lange Kerls” (Long Guys), Frederick William I of Prussia tested his military innovations on. He even had a medal dedicated to them.

Joachim II and his Jewish court factor

On February 1, 2017 the auction house Künker offers the top items from the Gunther Hahn Collection “Brandenburg-Preussen” as part of its Berlin Auction. They include some extremely rare coins of Joachim II who relied on Lipman ben Juda to conduct his financial transactions.

Patrona Bavariae

The depiction of the Virgin Mother is characteristic of Bavarian coins. What’s the reason for that? How did the Mary and her child take over the Bavarian coin obverses?

The Anabaptists – an episode from the history of Münster

Anyone looking up the St. Lambert’s Church in Münster discovers above the church clock a kind of decoration that is more than peculiar. High above, for everyone to see, there are three iron cages suspended from the steeple. Their background story will be told today.

The Jews, enemies of Christianity?

With the Professor Helmut Hahn collection, Künker will offer an exquisite collection of bracteates in his Berlin Auction on February 1, 2018. These high-medieval pfennigs are first-class works of art and provide an insight into the thought of the time, for instance, how the Christian majority saw their Jewish fellow citizens.

Human Faces Part 22: The boy from Apulia

Why is it that for centuries – or rather thousands of years – the head has served as the motif for the side of a coin? And why has this changed in the last 200? In this episode, Frederick II proves that the sword is not the only way to gain a throne.

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.

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 36: Charles V – Territories as far as the eye can see

For centuries, no, for millennia, human faces were the most popular choice for the decoration of a coin obverse. That the coin’s reverse can be just as fascinating will be shown in this episode of our series.

Human faces, part 41: Augsburg and the Thirty Years’ War

Being a Free Imperial City proved fatal for Augsburg during the Thirty Years’ War. This episode discusses the disastrous effects of the war on the city’s economic situation.