Two Dukes in Pomerania
On January 31, 2013, a Pomerania collection will be coming up for auction at Künkers’. Here, we present two coins from the collection that are as different as the men who had them minted.
Wolfgang II von Barby (1586-1615) – An Imperial Count in Financial Straits
On January 31, 2013, Künker will hold his fabulous Berlin sale in connection with the World Money Fair. Among the many rare pieces on offer is a unique thaler from Barby. This thaler testifies to the financial difficulties of the small imperial estate at the beginning of the modern era.
Was king of east Kent son of badger killer?
On 20 December 2012 an exceedingly rare gold coin of the Cantiaci tribe was found south of Canterbury in Kent. The coin is a gold quarter stater attributed to Sego, an elusive king who probably ruled in east Kent shortly after the birth of Christ.
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 ‘Modest Aphrodite’ from Nysa-Scythopolis (Beth Shean) and Ptolemais (Akko)
A comparison between a statue of Aphrodite found at Beth Shean and a coin type from the mint of Ptolemais reminds us of the realistic nature of statues appearing on city coins.
Pour le mérite
On May 31, 1740, Frederick II succeeded his father on the throne, soldier-king Frederick William I. To the 28 year-old, that came as some kind of liberation. Finally, he was able to carry out his ideas.
Unique coin of British king who fled to Germany
On 2 June 2013 a silver unit of a previously unrecorded type was found in east Kent, former land of the Cantiaci. It was struck by Amminus, a Cantian king who ruled in Kent around AD 30-40, shortly before the Claudian invasion in AD 43, which he may have encouraged.
Ancient Sybrita: the mint where the most beautiful of Crete’s coins were made
The ancient community of Sybrita in Crete stills remains something of a terra incognita. That is even the more surprising given the fact that gorgeous silver coins had been produced there in Hellenistic times that celebrate Dionysos, the god of the wine.
Macedonia becomes a province
A rare Macedonian tetradrachm, minted around 147 B. C., tells a story from the beginnings of the Roman province of Macedonia. The rarity is to be auctioned off in the upcoming Künker autumn auction sale to be conducted between the 7th and the 11th October 2013.
Gold for Wallenstein
In the autumn auction sale of Künker, between the 7th and the 11th October 2013, a ten ducat piece of Albrecht von Wallenstein with a gorgeous portrait will be on offer. This piece shows the extraordinary economic genius, whose logistical skills made him become probably the greatest military leader of his era, at the peak of his power.