The belief systems of the ancient world teemed with beings who were a mixture of human, animal and divine elements. Many of these are so familiar to us that we no longer wonder when we see them. Yet some images are so curious that they demand further investigation.

Carolina, Georgia, California – many people were attracted to set out for the unknown by the prospect of an easy yield in the gold fields. That makes the gold rush one of the foundation myths of the United States of America. In the Berlin auction Künker offers a range of numismatic testimonies to this eventful era.

On March 12, 2015, the auction house Künker auctions off an unusually rare testimony of the Maltese history. The small silver ingot in the weight of 30 tari from 1800 is the last currency produced on Malta.

On 24 and 25 November, 2014, Numismatica Genevensis conducted an auction at Geneva. What made this auction catalog special: large parts of Islamic history can be reconstructed by a look at the coins offered there.

On June 25, 2015, Künker auctions a sensation of post-WWII German numismatics: a pattern for the rejected draft by Karl Roth for the first German commemorative coin ‘Germanisches Museum’ (‘Germanic Museum’). Until now, a plaster cast model was the only known testimony!

There is a special coin among the lots offered at the Auction 42 of the Münzen & Medaillen GmbH: It’s a so called Wiener Stadtbancozettel Teilungsmünze, coined in 1807. The name sounds quite strange: What does it mean?

On June 24, 2015, Künker auctions a small series of portugalöser from the city of Hamburg. They are strongly associated with both the fight of a Hanseatic city against currency manipulations and the founding of the first Giro bank in Germany.

A happy widower, a crossbow shooting and a gold gulden… Find out in this article how coins were used during Renaissance shooting competitions.

Blodsklippingar or blood klippe is the Swedish numismatic term for coins that tell the story of one of the darkest periods of Swedish history: the drama of fraternal feud and a revolt, of great love and courageous women, of insanity, passion and lust for power… but see for yourself.

In the early 18th century, 100 Bernese founded a small settlement in North Carolina. After some initial setbacks, this settlement developed into a thriving city. Ruedi Kunzmann traces the history of this city on the basis of its banknotes, which will be for sale at the upcoming Sincona auction.