Christians fight against Christians with the assistance of the Turks
It is an unspectacular coin, that testimony of the culminating conflict between France and Spain, between Francis I and Charles V. …
Tag Archive for: Nations
From Pavia to the Sack of Rome – siege coins in Italy
Why was it that Renaissance rulers went to Italy to seek good fortune? Why was it that thousands of ducats and thaler were spent on mercenary soldiers? This article gives an insight into the war between Francis I of France and Charles V of Italy…
Leyden suffering – a siege during the Dutch War of Independence
Few wars have appealed to people’s emotions like the Dutch War of Independence. The roles seemed to be assigned all too clearly: on the one side there were the evil Catholic Spaniards, on the other the good Protestant Dutchmen. What we omit, however, is that this war was one the first in which propaganda was utilized in full awareness of its effects.
The Order of the Golden Fleece
Countless coins from the Holy Roman Empire show something many catalogs briefly address as “neck chain” of the Order of the Golden Fleece. This article will explain, when and where this chivalric order originated and why it became the most important order of knights all over the Old World…
The great Ottoman monetary reform
On December 12, 2011, the Osnabrück auction house Künker sells the Sultan Collection of Coins of the Ottoman Empire. These 908 lots reflect the history of the coins of the last Ottoman sultans and the monetary reform of 1845…
Between East and West or: the first Western coins of China
The first Chinese coins imitating western models were struck on the island of Formosa, modern-day Taiwan, nearly 200 years before. This article will tell the story, how it came about…
Human faces, part 48: Simón Bolívar, South America’s heroic freedom fighter
Why was the human head the motif on coins for centuries, no, for millennia? And why did that change in the last 200 years? In this episode: Why Bolivia is called Bolivia.
Coin Grading Made Easy
A lot of coin collectors are insecure when it comes to judging the condition of a coin. This article offers an introduction to this high art…
Gradings made in the USA
“Slabs“, that is how Americans call the small plastic boxes where coins are welded in, against a fee, after a procedure called grading. What is behind that? What advantages has that system? What problems?
Peter the Great as his nation’s barber
During the cultural revolution Peter the Great brought Russia, not only institutions were put in the crosshairs but the country’s population as well. The beard had to go – literally speaking…
