My 2018 World's Fair of Money Berlin Day 1

The organization that "does" the World Money Fair actually has several shows - the big one in Berlin, and a smaller one in Stuttgart. They used to have one in Basel too, even after the main WMF moved to Berlin. But the Basel show is now organized by others.

The World Money Fair in Berlin is the biggest coin show on this planet because it is a mix of a plain regular coin show (big one though) and a place where many mints from all over the world present, and partly sell, their products. Manufacturers of blanks and other coin related industries are there too, although this year most of these were in a separate hall. Other important parts of the WMF are the Technical Forum (for pros only), the Media Forum (which anybody can attend), a Künker auction, and lots of smaller meetings for professionals. But even for children it can be interesting, as you can buy a Coin Pass which you then fill at the booths of the various mints ...

Oh, and while the WMF is indeed a zoo, you may sometimes run into nice people who you would not have expected to see there.

Christian

 

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I own a small mint, and it is my dream to make it to Berlin.

 

You have your own mint? Would not mind learning more about that. Hope that
Seattlite86 does not mind if I add a few photos ...

This year's Guest of Honor was the Royal Dutch Mint (KNM); their booth had a screw press.



2018 is also the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx's birth, and since no coin was or will be issued this year (we had one in 1983, for the 100th anniversary of his death), the Berlin Mint made a few silver medals commemorating the occasion. They come in various sizes; the most common one is the 1 oz piece, but they also showed this one.

Can't read the price tag in the lower right corner? Hint: What you are looking at is 2,000 ounces of silver. The mint rep at the booth told us that they got the blank and then worked on the piece (mintage: 1) for about three weeks. So €75,000 is not much, I think.



The Berlin Mint would also let you mint your own medal. Ah well, Seattlite86 already posted an image of how this was done. Timid or weak visitors could also ask a mint rep to do the minting.



Oh, and ... back to the Guest of Honor, if you signed up and left your name and address at the KNM booth, you would get a freshly made stroopwafel. Those (usually made/sold by street vendors in NL) are much better than what you buy at a supermarket, hehe.



The man happily "posed" when I asked whether I could take a photo. Unfortunately he moved a little too fast for my poor phone camera. At the neighboring Austrian Mint booth, a big cow (stuffed) welcomed the visitors. But they also gave out free copies of Ursula Kampmann's book about the Philharmonics bullion coin ...

Christian

 

As you may know, Krause Publications has a "Coin of the Year" award every year. In fact, they choose winners in several categories, then the overall COTY, and there is also a Lifetime Achievement Award.

The COTY awards ceremony was part of the World Money Fair again. Keep in mind that the jury vote was in 2017, so the participating and winning coins are all from 2016. The host is Albert M. Beck, founder and honorary president of the WMF. His English may be a little difficult to understand first (he is Swiss, and now 80 years old), but you get used to it. The introductory words are about 3:30 minutes; skip them if you want to see the coin presentations right away.



Christian