Herbert Wenzel was born on 28 September 1904 in Linz, the son of engineer Viktor Wenzel, who was a Machine Commissioner of the Imperial and Royal State Railway Directorate in Linz, and his wife Eugenie, née Hlauzal. In 1907, the family moved to Vienna, where Herbert’s father had been transferred to the Imperial and Royal Railway Ministry. After graduating from high school in 1923, he studied law at the University of Vienna, obtaining his doctorate in 1928. After several years as a Postal Commissioner, Dr Herbert Wenzel was appointed to the Ministry of Trade in 1934, and in the same year he married Helene Wornitzer. His precise and successful work at the ministry was recognised in 1937 with the Austrian Gold Medal of Merit. Due to the political situation in Austria and the National Socialists’ seizure of power, Dr Wenzel was dismissed from his post in 1938. After military service in the Second World War and captivity as a prisoner of war, he was reinstated as a civil servant in 1945 and appointed to the Federal Ministry of Transport. In 1949, he was appointed Ministerialrat (senior civil servant).

Dr. Friedrich-Karl Günther wurde als einziges Kind der Eheleute Otto und Klara Günther fast am Ende der deutschen größten währungspolitischen Krise am 28.07.1922 in Berlin geboren. Er erlebte das Ende der Weimarer Republik und die Machtübernahme der Nationalsozialisten. Mit dem sogenannten Notabitur, welches dem NS-Regime erlaubte, Heranwachsende bereits mit 18 Jahren zum Dienst an der Waffe zu verpflichten, schloss er seine schulische Laufbahn ab. Von der Wehrmacht wurde er dann in die Luftwaffe einberufen. Er wurde in der Stadt Petsamo im finnischen Eismeer, welches heute unter dem Namen Petschenga zu Russland gehört, stationiert. Hier infizierte er sich mit Tuberkulose, der lebensbedrohliche Krankheitsverlauf führte schließlich zu seiner Ausmusterung und er konnte nach Berlin zurückkehren wo er erste Erfahrungen mit Jura hatte und sich für das Studium interessierte. Im völlig zerstörten Berlin lernte er seine spätere Ehefrau Gisela Kathrin (geb. 25.09.1926 als geb. Jungkeit) kennen. Seine Ehefrau arbeitete als technische Zeichnerin in den Borsigwerken, welche zu dieser Zeit einen bedeutenden Beitrag in der Rüstungsindustrie leisteten. Schließlich heirateten beide in Berlin-Reinickendorf, ein Teil von Berlin, der zum französischen Sektor gehörte, am 12.06.1945. Aus den Unterlagen des Standesamtes geht hervor, dass dies die erste Trauung in dem neu eröffneten Standesamt gewesen ist.

Together with his twin brother Dingeman (Dim), who passed away on 5 March 2020, he founded the coin trading company Verschoor on 1 July 1984, which the brothers ran in their hometown of Strijen near Dordrecht in the southern Netherlands. At the end of 2022, Henk closed the company which they had managed successfully for almost four decades. While Verschoor Coin Dealers specialised in Dutch medals and researching their historical background and provenance, Henk Verschoor built up a special collection of coins from the Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia and South America with great dedication. 

A family collection spanning three generations

Gerhard Lambert is a third-generation coin collector. Even his grandfather was interested in numismatics. Gerhard Lambert’s father was enthusiastic about Salzburg, and his son continued these interests with his own collection.

Hermann Wohnlich caught the numismatic “bug” in 1941 at the age of thirteen, when his parents gave him a beautiful thaler of the Saxon Elector Johann Georg I from the time of the Thirty Years’ War.

Hans Mohr inherited his father’s passion for collecting, and with a keen interest in aesthetically pleasing objects, he collected books, art, and coins.

This collector's portrait is provided in German only.

Wie bei vielen Sammlern war es auch bei Björn-Gunnar Haustein so, dass er schon als Kind Briefmarken sammelte. Das Interesse an Münzen wurde erst geweckt, als ein Freund ihm im Jahre 1969 das berühmte 3-Mark-Stück von 1913 schenkte, das der letzte sächsische König Friedrich August III. zur Erinnerung an die Völkerschlacht bei Leipzig prägen lassen hatte.

 Vom 16. bis 19. Oktober 1813 hatten die alliierten Truppen von Russland, Preußen, Österreich und Schweden den Truppen Frankreichs und seiner Verbündeten unter Kaiser Napoleon Bonaparte eine entscheidende Niederlage zugefügt, die zum Zusammenbruch der französischen Vorherrschaft in Europa führen sollte.

This collector's portrait is provided in German only. 

Seit Generationen ist die Familie Sonnenberg in Sachsen-Anhalt verwurzelt. Dr. Wilhelm Gustav Kurt Sonnenberg wurde als erstes Kind seiner Eltern Otto Paul Kurt Sonnenberg und Hildegard Sonnenberg (geb. Böttcher) am 10 März 1957 in Bernburg an der Saale geboren. Wie in der Vergangenheit auf dem Land üblich, trug Dr. Sonnenberg die Vornamen seines Vaters und des Großvaters. Als Rufname fungiert jedoch – wie bei seinem Vater – der Name Kurt.

Dr Druckrey was inspired to delve into ancient numismatics by his father, who over the years gave or bequeathed his son a wide range of coins. These gifts presented a challenge for the boy, who would first identify the coins more precisely, and then try to understand their historical background as thoroughly and comprehensively as possible. We know from great British universal historian Arnold J. Toynbee that a challenge is the best way to provoke someone’s creative response. In this respect, it would be wonderful if more parents gave these kinds of gifts to their children at an early age,to encourage them to engage with the history and geography of our world. Coins are among the most fascinating objects that enable us to do this.

Heinz-Falk Gaiser wurde am 8. Dezember 1942 in Bernburg an der Saale geboren.

Sein Vater Heinz Reinhard stammte aus Leipzig und war Flugkapitän und Abnahmepilot bei Hugo Junkers im anhaltischen Bernburg. Die Flugzeuge wurden nach der Fertigstellung im Werk einmal von Abnahmepiloten geflogen, bevor sie an die Luftwaffe ausgeliefert wurden.

My story with Regina Adams and her husband John began, as it had with my father a few years earlier, at the New York Coin Fair in 2008.

Regina and John Adams visited our booth and were interested in our upcoming auction, which contained a suitable Löser for Regina‘s collection. It must have been the 2-thaler rider-piece from 1655 by August the Younger (lot number 1546 in this catalogue) that actually found its way into the collection. I still remember how fascinated I was by the friendly and elegant couple.

Eckhart Pick was born in Mainz on 8 February 1941. As a child, he was forced to witness the destruction of his parents’ house in the Große Bleiche in a bombing raid. After the war he attended the Rabanus Maurus Gymnasium college preparatory school from 1951 until his graduation there in 1960. Thereafter he studied philosophy and law at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, graduating in 1965 and 1968 with both state examinations in law. In 1969, Eckhart Pick obtained his doctorate in law with the topic “The efforts of the estates to achieve a permanent electoral capitulation and the result in 1711” and habilitated (after four years as an Assistant Professor) with the publication “Mainz Imperial State Law – Content and Method: a contribution to the ius publicum at the University of Mainz in the 18th century.”

We are very proud that the dedicated collector Dr Kaya Sayar has entrusted us with his exquisite collection of 2,000 coins, which he has built up over thirty years with great commitment and energy. His decision to offer them for sale in two Künker auctions is a vote of confidence in our company and our work. We are most grateful to our longstanding client Dr Sayar and his family for the trust they have placed in us.

Die numismatische Wissenschaft und das Sammeln von Münzen sind seit jeher eng miteinander verbunden, es sind die beiden Seiten der Medaille des Phänomens Numismatik und untrennbar miteinander verknüpft. Der Innsbrucker Numismatiker Professor Heinz Tursky verkörperte in seiner Person gleichzeitig den engagierten Wissenschaftler und den leidenschaftlichen Münzsammler.

Der Numismatiker Alois Wenninger wurde am 20. November 1949 in Straubing in Niederbayern geboren. Der Vater Alois Wenninger arbeitete als städtischer Beamter, die Mutter Maria Wenninger kümmerte sich um die Familie. Neben dem Sohn Alois mussten noch sechs jüngere Geschwister versorgt und erzogen werden. 

It was not merely by chance that Robert Schuman bore the same name as the French statesman, famous founding father of Europe, and visionary of a peaceful unification of the European states, Robert Schuman (born 29 June 1886 in Clausen, died 4 September 1963 in Scy-Chazelles).  The latter was also born in Luxembourg, but as a citizen of the 19th century “German Empire”, and both were members of the same distinguished family

Kurt Conzen was born in Cologne / Köln on 23 June 1925. Even as a youngster he was very interested in history, especially that of the ancient world, and was strongly encouraged in that interest by his father. The father had already built up a small collection of coins before the Second World War, which Kurt Conzen later expanded considerably. After that war the young man studied law at the University of Cologne, and received his doctorate at the end of 1949 with the dissertation “Die materiell-rechtliche Prüfungszuständigkeit des Richters im deutschen Verfassungsrecht” (“The Substantive Auditing Responsibility of the Judge in German Constitutional Law”).