Tag Archive for: Nations

The Coins of Medieval Mainz

On 21 March 2018 auction house Künker will auction off the Dr. Michael and Dr. Adelheid Loos collection of coins and medals from Mainz. This presents a great opportunity to tell the story of the city in medieval times based on the coins.

Cent, Nickel, Dime – what is depicted on American coinage and why?

Everybody all over the world is acquainted with the American dollar. But did you ever have a closer look at the three smallest denominations of US coinage? They represent the American conception of the world, too. At the risk of boring our constant readers from the United States, here is a short comment on the subjects pictured there…

In the emperor’s service – the legions

Do you sometimes dream of visiting the epoch when Roman legions dominated the world, in the same way as the time traveller of H. G. Wells? Of course it is impossible, but modern re-enactment gives you quite a good idea of what the soldiers once accomplished.

Between England and France – the Outbreak of the Hundred Years’ War

He was one of France’s most powerful kings, this Philip the Fair who humiliated the pope, crushed the Templars and humbled the Plantagenets. But 14 years after his death the house of the Capetians had ended. Now the question was: Who was to reign over mighty France?

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.

Virginia City – Where monetary history was written…

Do you believe, too, that precious metal always retains its value? Well, then you better accompany us to Virginia City, where, in the Comstock Lode, so much silver was found that the silver standard was rendered obsolete.

The Reformation jubilee in Quedlinburg Abbey

On 29 June 2017, a very rare commemorative coin of the abbess of Quedlinburg will be put to auction at Künker sale 294. It is dedicated to the Reformation jubilee of 1617, but the question arises, where people got the idea to celebrate the jubilee in the first place.

Medieval Sicily Part 4: The Normans are coming

Around AD 1000, Sicily was ruled and shaped by the Arabs, Lower Italy by the Byzantines and the Lombards. Then the Normans came and created a new empire in the South …

Adolf of Schwarzenberg – The Liberator of Raab

On March 29, 1598, Adolf of Schwarzenberg reconquered the fortress of Raab, taking it back from the Turks. The Emperor was thankful: He elevated the victorious military to Imperial Count and thus made the House of Schwarzenberg an important factor in the Habsburg Empire.

The Nine Types of Coin Collectors

You will find them everywhere in their natural surroundings: at coin shows, auction sales, in coin shops, at the flea market… But, there is only very few information about the genus of coin collector. It seems to form a part of the biological family of collectors, which for its part belongs – without any doubt – to the human beings. This is the first attempt to describe the nine hitherto known species of coin collectors…