The year 2025 is drawing to a close, and snow is blanketing the landscape in a brilliant white.
Christmas lights are twinkling and the nights are getting longer. The new numismatic year 2026 will begin very soon! Traditionally, collectors are already preparing for the next World Money Fair 2026 in Berlin. The World Money Fair is the world's largest and leading coin fair.
It offers an exceptionally wide variety of coins on an exhibition area of 9,000 square meters. To date, 233 exhibitors from over 50 countries are listed for the upcoming fair. The event offers something that many collectors love: not only coin offerings from dealers, but also presentations of new releases from the issuing countries. Once again, there will be numerous coins specially minted for the fair, various competitions will be held, there will be presentations to marvel at, and collectors can get involved in the activities on offer - they can even mint their own exclusive and valuable medals. Overall, it is and remains a numismatic event of superlatives.
The World Money Fair will take place from January 29 to 31 in Germany's capital, Berlin. Visitors can attend the fair daily from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. This event is happening at the Estrel Congress Center. Estrel is Germany's largest hotel with 1,125 rooms. At the end of 2026, the Estrel Tower will also open, which at 176 meters will be the tallest building in Berlin. Outside the exhibition area, the Estrel has several restaurants and bars that invite you to chat with friends and colleagues about numismatics. One night in a 27 square meter standard room during the fair costs €200. In addition, there is a city tax of €15 per day, which was increased to 7.5% in 2025. The 7% VAT of €1.05 is again payable on the accommodation tax. There is plenty of parking available at the hotel. The parking fee for 24 hours is €22.
Since last year, the World Money Fair has been under the newmanagement of Mr. Jungmichel. A lot has happened since then. It's become way more modern, and the official website got a major update. The organizer reaches a wider and younger audience via social media. Members of the World Money Fair Club enjoy special benefits, including discounted admission prices, monthly news via a newsletter, and even free drinks and gifts during the fair. The Minting Experience Center is particularly impressive. Visitors can watch medals being minted live in a 100-square-meter space and keep them as souvenirs.
On January 28, the 22nd Technical Forum gets started. New technologies and current trends in coin production will be presented and discussed here. The hall plan and list of exhibitors for the upcoming fair are already available on the official website. Day tickets can be pre-ordered online via TicketPay for €18. Trade visitors can purchase tickets for €145, which grant admission from 8:00 a.m. Digital tickets can be converted into printed versions on site. The official opening ceremony will begin at 10:00 a.m. on January 29, and the expected 15,000 visitors can then begin their numismatic adventure. A coin passport can be purchased for a fee. This can be used to collect various circulation coins from the issuing countries and official ink stamps. Tower Mint London will be the guest of honor at the World Money Fair in 2026 and can be found at booth C12. It is London's last remaining mint and is celebrating its 50th anniversary at the fair.
There will once again be many interesting exhibitors in the Chinese coins section. As a dealer, Mr. Yu Ying offers a wide range of coins and medals. China Gold Coin Group Co., Ltd.is presenting its brand-new coin range, and anyone wishing to admire all the precious metal Pandas that have been released can find them at the Yong Yin Coin booth. Special commemorative coin sets for the fair will certainly be available again from the Japan Mint, Swissmint, Royal Dutch Mint, and Royal Mint Belgium. Germany's Mint also always has the latest 2 euro CoinCard on offer. A silver kookaburra specially designed for the fair is available from the Perth Mint. What many people overlooked at the last fair was the promotional giveaway from Valaurum. This was a 24-karat fine gold banknote weighing 0.05 grams.
The both grading service providers NGC and PCGS will be present again. Submissions can be made during the fair. Grading has now become fully integrated in Europe, and coins with a high grade fetch top prices. Graded coins are also easier to sell worldwide because they have a standardized and independent rating. NGC will offer a limited workshop for grading during the event. Participants usually receive a special NGC sample as a souvenir.
Starting next year, a major grading service company for collectibles will be expanding into Europe, specifically to Frankfurt am Main, Germany. With over 100 employees on site, PSA will open a new office in the summer. PSA is known for grading trading cards, comics, and video games.
Precious metals are currently attracting a great deal of attention. The rally has been going strong for over 20 years. Price developments are driven by crises and wars and have been rediscovered as a hedge against inflation. As a result, gold is now part of every portfolio. Central banks continue to stockpile their reserves, with Poland in particular recently making recordpurchases and thus, at least officially, leading the way in terms of acquisitions. A gigantic gold vein has been discovered in China, but the precious metal extracted from it will most certainly remain in the country. Silver, on the other hand, is increasingly in demand in industry, for example in the manufacture of photovoltaic systems, but investors are also continuing to withdraw the precious metal from the market. Many dealers are currently experiencing delivery problems again.
Gold is currently trading at $4,200 and silver at $58 an ounce. The price of physical precious metals is even higher. A fine ounce of gold in minted form is currently available for $4,218, and silver must be paid for at a minimum of $71.50. It remains to be seen where prices will go. At the beginning of the year, I predicted the current price almost exactly. Until the Swiss Vreneli, which was issued to mark its 100th anniversary, was sold, I had expected the price of gold to be €3,500 per fine ounce. A few years ago, 1/10 oz of gold cost around €100, which many considered to be very overpriced at the time. Now the same size is already close to €400, and I am sure that investors can and are willing to afford a 1/10 oz for €500 or even more. With a growing global population, greater wealth, and strong purchases by central banks, the precious metal gold is and will remain sought-after and expensive. The result will be that fewer large units of physical precious metal will be minted for investment purposes, with 1/20 oz or 1/10 oz coins coming to the fore in the future. Its use in jewelry will also decline. Physical precious metals retain their value over generations - unlike stocks or cryptocurrencies. Although Bitcoin offers greater potential in its role as digital gold, its price fluctuates too wildly. In the case of a possible quick sale, this risk must be taken into account.
You can find me at booth F6 at the World Money Fair. The Show-Panda-Medals issued since 2016 will be presented here at Champion Auction and House of Coins. In addition, after a hiatus in publication, the new printed Journal of East Asian Numismatics in English will be available at the booth. The latest World Money Fair Berlin Show-Panda-Medal 2026 will be available at the Kuenker booth.
The 1 oz silver medal has a mintage of 200 pieces and will cost €135. The 8-gram silver version, with the same mintage, is available for €50. Both medals can be purchased individually or together and are restricted to 50 pieces per fair day.
The sharp rise in the price of silver and increased import costs are affecting the retail price of the Show-Panda-Medal. Due to the very limited small circulation and higher production costs, the price was calculated very tightly. As usual, the Show-PandaMedals will be available on eBay for €200 or more on the first day of the fair.
The performance of Chinese coins is particularly interesting. Prices have skyrocketed for the first 20 years of Panda issues. The first release in 1982, containing one ounce of gold, fetches a price of €12,000. A 1995 ¼ oz gold panda is worth €6,000. The silver pandas are catching up, and rare variants stand out. The 1 oz Panda 1990 Small P, when graded PFUC69 by NGC, is worth an impressive $2,000.
Most Chinese coins are migrating to China, where they are in demand by an increasing number of wealthy collectors. Some years and sizes of the gold pandas have a maximum mintage of 2,000 pieces. With coins returning to China and disappearing into master sets, the market is becoming increasingly scarce, triggering a steady rise in prices.
Panda coins are popular in China, and silver dollar coins are favored in the United States. If a comparable mintage is used here, a US dollar coin is worth between $50,000 and $250,000 on average. From this perspective, there is still plenty of room left to grow.
Chinese 1-yuan commemorative coins are following this trend. Some old Chinese dollar coins and commemorative coin sets from the 1980s, which had previously been on a strong upward trend, are currently undergoing a correction.