LOOSE CHANGE: FEBRUARY 2, 2025

 

Manfred Dunker will forever be known as the foremost innovator of the commemorative coin industry in the 80s, 90s and 00s.

Manfred Dunker was a collector from childhood, collecting stamps and coins. After his time with Dr Oetker, he went on to take charge of the tiny coin unit of Richard Borek, joining in 1985. He had a vision that it could be made into a driving force in coins. He renamed the company to MDM. It did not mean Manfred Dunker Münzenhandel as some suggested, but Münzhandelsgesellschaft Deutsche Münze.

During his time, MDM increased from a small entity to 600 people. Before Manfred joined MDM, commemorative coins were much less common than today. Many European countries issued them only on rare occasions. Manfred Dunker inspired national banks and state mints across the globe to expand their issuance of such coins, both as base metal, silver and gold coins. MDM helped with sales and distribution. Manfred was particularly influential in the development of Olympic coins for events such as Barcelona, Albertville, Lillehammer, Sydney, Torino and Beijing.

To read the complete article, see:
Prize to Manfred Dunker, the Innovator of the Modern Commemorative Coin Market (https://www.greysheet.com/news/story/prize-to-manfred-dunker-the-innovator-of-the-modern-commemorative-coin-market)

 
Artist Nuala Creed sits next to some of her works

The Great Room at the Internet Archive was formerly a church nave, and so it's appropriate that a golden afternoon light glows through its arched windows. On a recent Tuesday, Nuala Creed sits in a pew and contemplates the 175 three-foot-tall ceramic sculptures she has crafted over the past 15 years.

All of the figures represent employees, past and present, of the Internet Archive, a free database and digital library started to catalog books, web pages and "the Internet itself."

A figure in the front row sets a mournful tone: It's the sculpture of Aaron Swartz, a computer programmer and activist for a free and open internet who worked as a developer at the Internet Archive before he died by suicide in January 2013 at his Brooklyn apartment. He was being prosecuted for allegedly downloading millions of academic articles from JSTOR.

Today, "people come here to be photographed with Aaron," Creed said.

To read the complete article, see:
At the Internet Archive, employees stay forever — in clay sculptures (https://missionlocal.org/2025/01/internet-archive-employees-stay-forever-in-clay-sculptures/)

A former Postal Service worker admitted this week that he stole valuable sports collectibles, including Michael Jordan trading cards, an autographed photo of the tennis star Rafael Nadal and a Mickey Mantle card, while he was working as a sorting clerk at a post office in New Jersey, federal prosecutors said.

The items, collectively estimated to be worth more than $100,000, were taken from parcels destined for an auction house in Clifton, N.J., and sold to individual buyers or sports collectibles stores, prosecutors said.

To read the complete article, see:
Postal Worker Stole Sports Memorabilia Worth $100,000, U.S. Says (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/29/us/usps-employee-guilty-sports-memorabilia-theft.html)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web