It has been a few years since I visited the World Money Fair in Berlin. This year’s trip started with a flight from Hong Kong on Lufthansa on the evening of February 1st transiting in Frankfurt and arriving in Berlin’s Tegal airport on morning of February 2nd. I waited at the airport to meet up with friends from Shanghai: former Shanghai Mint Museum Director Zhang Yue Qun and Rocky Zhao the Senior Designer.
We checked in to the Grand Hyatt Berlin Hotel around 1pm, then we took a short walk to Checkpoint Charlie, the famous Berlin landmark which used to be one of the crossing that separated East and West. Later in the day we meet up with Robert Mish, CEO of Mish International who traveled from the United States and had dinner at the famous Sony Center which is across the street from our hotel.
We checked in to the Grand Hyatt Berlin Hotel around 1pm, then we took a short walk to Checkpoint Charlie, the famous Berlin landmark which used to be one of the crossing that separated East and West. Later in the day we meet up with Robert Mish, CEO of Mish International who traveled from the United States and had dinner at the famous Sony Center which is across the street from our hotel.
An American Soldier Portrait in Checkpoint Charlie
On the morning of February 3, I went to Künker Auctions’ Berlin office in the Mitte district. I delivered the World Money Fair Berlin Pandas struck in copper for the Otto Beh turnover event on Saturday February 6th at 12:30 in the Paris room of the Estrel hotel. The Shanghai Mint copper pandas were to be distributed to VIPs and attendees to the event.
World Money Fair 2016 Berlin Copper Commemorative Panda, box and certificate
I also discussed with Ulrich Künker, managing director of the Künker Auction house, which is the leading numismatic auction house in Europe, the next days’ auction of the number one Gold and Silver Berlin Panda for the benefit of the Saxony-Anhalt museum at Moritzburg .
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| World Money Fair 2016 Berlin Gold Commemorative Panda, Serial No. 1 | World Money Fair 2016 Berlin Silver Commemorative Panda, Serial No. 1 |
Later in the day we checked in to the host hotel of the World Money Fair Berlin, the Estrel Hotel. The World Money Fair is the largest international numismatic trade show and this year is the 45th time it has been held. At 6:30 pm we traveled by special shuttle bus to the reception of the South Korea embassy hosted by South Korea ambassador to Germany Kim Jae shin. Also in attendance were Komsco Mint Director Kim Hwa Dong, Chairman of Poongson Roy Ryu, and our old friend CEO of Poongson Hwadong J.C. Lee.
Including: South Korea ambassador to Germany Kim Jae shin, Komsco Mint Director Kim Hwa Dong and Chairman of Poongson Roy Ryu
The reception was attended by over 60 people including many representatives from the many different mints attending the World Money Fair Berlin. The managing director of the World Money Fair Hans Henning Gorum and founder Albert Beck were also there.
Other important guests included leading German dealer Achim Becker and his wife, CEO of Taisei Coin Corporation Masahiro Oka and staff members Kasumi Kenta and Takako Kiyose, Kitty Kwan the CEO of Panda America, Jeff Starck, senior editor of Coin World, Robert Mish of Mish International, and David Harper of World Coin News published by Krause Publications and Tom Michael of Standard Catalog of World Coins.
On the morning of February 4th the Künker auction was held at the Estrel hotel. The auction of the World Money Fair Berlin Panda number one gold and silver was scheduled for 12 pm. Lot 913, the Gold number one, went for €9,250 to a mail order bidder and Lot 914, the silver panda, sold for a hammer price of €2,200 to a Chinese floor bidder residing in Germany. The Künker auction had many world coin highlights including an Australia holey dollar which realized over €250,000 and a pattern Gold French 5 franc which sold for over €180,000.
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| February 4th the Künker Auction | Robert Mish makes notes in the catalog at the Auction |
February 5th was the opening of the World Money Fair Berlin and the first day that the Otto Beh Chinese Dies were on display at the Künker Auction booth D6. The sale of the Silver Berlin Panda was also at the same booth at €69 each. I attended the media forum for the first time with Coin World senior editor Jeff Starck. First up was the guest of honor from South Korea, Riu Han Sik. In his presentation Mr Riu presented a background of South Korea culture and history. Next was the coin program for the 2018 Winter Olympic coin program. The first coins from this program will be released on November 1, 2016, and the second series on November 1, 2017. Next up was the French mint and the Japanese mint.
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| CEO of Champion Michael Chou with the Otto Beh Dies | World Money Fair 2016 Berlin Commemorative Panda Plaster |
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| Managing Director of the World Money Fair Hans Henning Gorum Hosts the Opening Ceremony | 2018 Winter Olympic Coins |
Around noon I went a lunch meeting with Robert Mish and a friend from Switzerland. We discussed the overall market in Europe and recent passing of our friend Singapore Supreme court justice Sam T.S. Sinnathuray. Sam was a long time coin collector and when he retired from the court he founded Mavin International, a leading Singapore numismatic auction house. I found out about the judge’s passing when I arrived in Hong Kong on January 19th. I travelled to Singapore on the evening of January 20th and went to pay my last respects on Thursday morning with my friend Jeffrey Wai and Wong Hon Sum, the former president of the Numismatic Society Asia and operator of Collectables Auction Asia. My friend was a long time friend of Sam’s and the Sinnathuray family and he had travelled to Singapore from Europe to attend the services on Friday.
Friday evening we travelled by special shuttle bus with Ulrich Künker of Künker Auctions to the Berlin Museum of Communications which was founded as a postal museum in 1872.
The Roof of Berlin Museum of Communications
The guest of honor dinner was hosted again by the Ambassador of Korea, Poongson, and Hwadong. The dinner was attended by over 150 people from leading mints, minting companies, numismatic companies and leading numismatic publications.
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| (From L) the former Shanghai Mint Museum Director Zhang Yuequn, the senior editor of Coin World Jeff Starck, Michael Chou and Robert Mish | (From L) Robert Mish, Michael Chou, the chief editor David Harper of World Coin News and Zhang Yuequn | (From L) Zhang Yuequn, Komsco Mint Director Kim Hwa Dong and the Senior Designer Rocky Zhao |
We were seated at the table with World Coin News chief editor Dave Harper, Coin World senior editor Jeff Starck, Emperiom Hamburg CEO Achim Becker and his wife, Robert Mish CEO of Mish International, Zhang Yue Qun former Shanghai Mint Museum director, Rocky Zhao senior designer, and Dave Lisot, CEO of Cointelevision. It was great evening with plenty of interesting discussions about the conditions of numismatic markets and wonderful performances by performers who travelled from Korea. First was a Korean singer who performed a classic Korean song, then a young seventeen-year-old on saxophone, finally a performance by a classical group who performed parts of the Four Seasons and other classical pieces of music.
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| (From L) Jeff Starck, Dave Harper and Michael Chou | Korean live music performance |
Saturday at 12:30 pm was the main event for us, the official turnover of the Otto Beh Chinese dies to the Saxony-Anhalt Museum by Michael Chou and Ulrich Künker. The dies were accepted by Dr. Christian Philipsen, director of the foundation of Domes and Castles of Saxony-Anhlat and Dr. Ulf Drager chief curator of state coin of the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
Otto Beh Dies brochure by Künker Auction
The event was hosted in the Paris room of the Estrel Hotel. In attendance were managing director of the Word Money Fair Hans Henning Gorum, and Albert Beck, founder of the World Money Fair and chief editor of the Muzen Review. Jeff Starck of Coin World and Tom Michael of Standard Catalog of World Coins and other leading numismatic publications were in attendance to report on this event. The head of the German Dealer’s Association, Rabb and the wife of the famous coin collector Professor Dr. Joachim Kruger was also in attendance. Dr. Kruger donated 2,337 pieces from his Chinese collection to the Malztberg Museum. The ceremony started with speeches by Ulrich Künker and a presentation of a check for €12,500 from the auction of the number one Berlin Panda from Robert Mish of Mish International to Christian Philipsen, Director of the Foundation of Domes and Castles of Saxony-Anhalt. A short speech by Michael Chou was followed by a toast by Michael Chou, Ulrich Künker, Robert Mish, Christian Philipsen and Ulf Drager to celebrate the turnover. Christian Philipsen then made a presentation of the Saxony-Anhalt Museum. The ceremony was followed by a lunch for the all the attendees.
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| Presentation of the check from Robert Mish to Christian Philipsen, Director of the Foundation of Domes and Castles of Saxony-Anhalt | Michael Chou delivers a speech |
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| (From L) Ulrich Künker, Ulf Drager, Robert Mish, Michael Chou and Christian Philipsen in official Berlin turnover of the Otto Beh Chinese dies to the Saxony-Anhalt Museum | (From L) Ulf Drager, Christian Philipsen, Michael Chou, Robert Mish and Ulrich Künker |
(From L) the founder and chief editor of the Muzen Review Albert Beck, Rocky Zhao, Zhang Yuequn and Michael Chou
Otto Beh dies and Chinese coins special exhibit, 18th Sept. 2016 to 29th Jan. 2017, Saxony-Anhalt Museum
Olympic Coins autographed by Albert Beck is presented to Michael Chou
Following the Otto Beh ceremony was the Coin of The Year presentation by World Coin News’ Dave Harper. More than 70 independent judges voted on the winners of each category and the Coin of The Year.
2016 Coin of the Year brochure
The Coin of The Year this year went to the United States for the Baseball coin. The principal deputy US mint director Rhett Jeppson was present to receive the award from Dave Harper. After the ceremony we had a brief discussion with Mr. Jeppson and he invited our group to visit the San Francisco Mint prior to the August American Numismatic Association annual show in Anaheim, California.
United States National Baseball Hall of Fame coin in copper-nickel
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| Dave Harper presents the award to the principal deputy US mint director Rhett Jeppson (left) | Dave Harper makes a presentation of Coin of the Year award |
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| Zhang Yuequn and the former US mint director Edmund Moy(right) | Group photo of all winners |