Sestos and Abydos, Hero and Leander: a Love Story in Coinage
Through the images on their coins ancient cities reflected on what they believed to constitute their identity. For that purpose two cities situated on the Hellespont strait in Asia Minor chose a moving love story with a tragic ending.
Documenting the Past: an Ancient Industry recorded in Coinage
An unusual coin type recently sold for 30,000 GBP at the London-based Ceres Auction House depicts an ancient industry, hitherto unrecorded on coinage or sculptural reliefs: the production of noodles.
The age of alchemy
The wonders of alchemy enthralled the smartest men of early modern times. An impressive testimony to his passion is a silver medal, which will be auctioned off at the upcoming Künker Fall Auction on September 28, 2016.
Poets and their income: Walther von der Vogelweide
Beyond price – no, great art has never been beyond price. Quite the opposite actually, as it had a clearly defined price. We will see just how high that price was, looking at the most famous German minstrel – Walther von der Vogelweide.
Meyer Amschel Rothschild, court factor and coin dealer
Meyer Amschel Rothschild worked his way out of the Frankfurt Jewish ghetto and all the way up to court factor in the 18th century. He specialised in coin- and antiquities dealing before becoming the founder of a famous dynasty of bankers.
Nine months and 13 days: the reign of Galba
In its Auction 333 to be held on November 30, 2017, the long-standing auction house Hess-Divo offers a particularly remarkable special collection, the Galba Collection. It is dedicated to the Roman Emperor Galba, as the first emperor who no longer stemmed from the Julio-Claudian dynasty. We tell his story through some of the rarities stemming from this collection.
Collecting Seleukid Coins – Part I
David Michaels provides an overview of the history and coinage of the Seleukid Empire. The article also includes a rarity guide and a brief bibliography of historical and numismatic references to get any new collector started on the path to a thriving collection.
Why Sigismund ‘rich in coin’ died a destitute man
The date was February 7th, 1496. Columbus hadn’t returned from his second journey yet, in the realm of the Holy Roman Empire everyone was upset about general taxation which had been decided at the diet at Worms one year ago, and the Syphilis which had been introduced from America spread all over Europe. Much happened those days indeed; and in a secluded chamber in the Innsbruck Residence a lonely man laid dying.
Rare Medieval coin on offer in Künker’s next auction sale – an unedited denarius of Charles the Great (768-814)...
In the March 2010 auction sale of the auction and coin trading company Fritz Rudolf Künker in Osnabruck an extraordinary coin from the reign of Charles the Great will be offered for sale.
Drachm, Dirham, Crown and Pound
Our sponsor, the MoneyMuseum in Zurich, will soon issue a second, revised edition of its booklet on money and currencies in history. We present the new text here on the Internet...