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World Money Fair (Berlin) 2023

Started by chrisild, September 21, 2022, 04:36:20 PM

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chrisild

In February 2023, the World Money Fair will make an attempt at taking place "like normal" again. Due to the pandemic, this year's WMF was a digital event in February '22 only, followed by a small-ish coin show in July '22. The plans for next year are different, it seems.

Not much is known at this stage, but we have the dates. See the attached image. ;) The location should be the Estrel (hotel and convention center) in Berlin again ...

Figleaf

I was surprised to see that Munich's public transportation still required a face mask. Is it different in Berlin?

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

chrisild

#2
No, face masks are required in public transport ... just as in Los Angeles, Madrid and Rome for example. ;) More about that, and my recent travel experiences (not WMF related) here.

Still no news regarding WMF'23 on the website, but they have been "late" in previous years too. People may subscribe to a newsletter; this is the general one for visitors, and there is a special one for exhibitors.

chrisild

#3
Now we do have some more information. The opening hours for the general public will be:

Fri 3 Feb 2023: 10-18 h
Sat 4 Feb 2023: 10-18 h
Sun 5 Feb 2023: 10-16 h

Also, WMF visitors will be able to buy tickets in advance. This way you pay €12 for a one-day pass, or €24 for all three days. If you purchase your ticket at the convention center, it will be €15/€30. Currently the tickets cannot be purchased yet. More "later". :)

chrisild

#4
Tickets for the 2023 World Money Fair can now be purchased online (see #6 below). There are tickets for regular visitors, for professionals, and for attending the Technical Forum.

As mentioned before, a one-day pass is €12; a pass for all days is €24. However, a processing fee will be added to that - this way a 12 euro ticket for example will cost 13.83 euro when purchased in advance. Tickets for professional visitors are 100 euro (for the entire duration of the WMF) plus processing fee. Such "pros" can get in two hours earlier – as from 8.00 h every day.

You can also buy tickets for the Technical Forum, but they are pricy. One ticket is 390 euro; with USt (VAT) you pay 464.10 euro, and on top of that comes the processing fee (almost 25 euro if you buy one ticket). That is when you plan to attend the event in Berlin; an online ticket (livestream) costs "only" 119 euro per device.

What else? The opening hours I mentioned in the previous post. The Künker auctions will be on Tue 31 Jan, Wed 1 Feb and Thu 2 Feb. The Technical Forum is on Thu 2 Feb (13.30 – 18.00 h), the Media Forum is on Fri 3 Feb (as from 10.30 h).

chrisild

#5
Back in late September '22 you asked ...
Quote from: Figleaf on September 27, 2022, 07:36:29 AMI was surprised to see that Munich's public transportation still required a face mask. Is it different in Berlin?

The state of Bavaria (where Munich is) did away with the mandate in early December 2022. Other states had gone ahead or followed (SH, ST), and in early 2023 more German states will make this optional: Saxony as from 16-Jan, North Rhine Westphalia as from 1-Feb, Berlin/Brandenburg/Mecklenburg-V. as from 2-Feb, Thuringia as from 3-Feb.

So just in time for the WMF ;) covering the nose and mouth will no longer be a legal requirement in trains, subways, etc. That also applies to long distance trains (regulated by the feds; 2-Feb deadline).

chrisild

The WMF ticket store is here:
(English) https://ticket.worldmoneyfair.de/en/
(German) https://ticket.worldmoneyfair.de/

By the way, this year's World Money Fair will AFAIK not have a guest country of honor. Instead, the WMF celebrates its anniversary: In 1971, the OEMB (Organisation Europäischer Münzen-Börsen) was founded. Shortly afterwards, in late January 1972 the first World Money Fair – then "Internationale Münzenbörse" – took place in Basel, Switzerland. And since 2021 or early 2022 would not have been great occasions for a big party, the jubilee will be this time.

chrisild

#7
Finally some more details about the program. Here is the WMF 2023 catalog:
https://www.worldmoneyfair.de/fair/catalog/?lang=en
You can view it online, or download the PDF. The current version is about 32 MB; sometimes the catalog gets updated again.

The Technical Forum (Thursday 2 Feb, 13.30–18.00 h) and its presentations can be found here:
https://www.worldmoneyfair.de/forums/19-technical-forum-2023/19th-technical-forum-2023-program/?lang=en

At the Media Forum (Friday 3 Feb, roughly 10.30-13.30 h) ten countries/mints will present their programs: Austria, Canada, China, Croatia, Gibraltar, Greece, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, United Kingdom, United States. Find the details here:
https://www.worldmoneyfair.de/forums/media-forum-2023/?lang=en

By the way, when you purchase a WMF ticket in advance, you need to print it – none of that modern stuff ;) such as QR or wallet accepted. And as mentioned before, tickets that you buy at the venue, on the day of your visit, are a little more expensive. However, you may get a discount – say, as a member of the Austrian Mint's free MünzeClub. Example: One-day pass purchased in advance: €13.83, purchased at the show €15, MC members €10.

Will not go to Berlin though, for a mix of reasons: These days I buy very few coins only, but I briefly thought about a nice mix of MWF visit and sightseeing weekend. However, a few days later I will fly to Los Angeles, and I actually need to do some work too. ;) So maybe the World Money Fair 2024? But I am glad it will be a "real" show again next month!

chrisild

#8
Tomorrow the WMF opens its doors again, and I got an invitation the other day to a "media talk" that goes a little beyond the usual presentations: On the first day (Fri 3 Feb) at 11.00 h, the Austrian Mint will talk about ... cash. ;) Now you may say, sure, that is how they make their money – but this talk will have a somewhat different scope.

Gerhard Starsich (CEO, Münze Österreich/Austrian Mint) and Brett Scott (author of "Cloud Money") will discuss the relevance of cash. You can attend the talk in Berlin, or online, but prior registration is required. Here is more info (in German) about this "Media Round Table".

chrisild

Seems I am "talking" to myself in this topic ;) but maybe some of this is interesting without really being worth a reply. So once again, WMF stuff – this year I did not go there, but you can now watch a looong video with interviews and presentations.

The whole thing is about three hours; most of this is talks to mint representatives who talk about new issues from their countries. But there is also a book presentation – much longer than all the other bits and pieces but interesting. The talks are in English, except for the one about the German coin program.

Admittedly I have not watched the entire thing; sometimes I used "fast forward". ;) You can fortunately recognize breaks (the video shows a pause screen then), so here is the list of talks ...

0:00:05 Latvia

0:10:30 WMF opening / general impressions

0:16:00 Germany

0:23:50 France

0:34:00 "Operation Bernhard" (see the end of this post)

1:37:15 Lithuania

1:44:35 USA (this is Ventris Gibson, director of the US Mint, by the way)

1:52:40 Thailand

1:59:20 India

2:07:30 Croatia

2:16:25 Poland

2:23:00 WMF Impressions

2:30:30 Hungarian medals by ÉremVerde (I do not have a sound there, but subtitles), followed by images/videos from companies such as CIT (Coin Invest Trust) or the Polish "Germania Mint".

Now you may have noticed that roughly an hour in this video is about "Operation Bernhard". Not a mint of course – this part deals with a book by Danny Spungen (the guy with the hat and the tie). In WW2 the German government decided to have Bank of England notes counterfeited by prisoners in the Oranienburg concentration camp. You are likely to know about this Operation Bernhard, either because it involves money  :) , or because, as a German, you may have watched the movie "Die Fälscher" aka The Counterfeiters.

Danny Spungen says that people and their memoirs are individual but money is not – and he likes to see or discover the individuals behind the money. So he wrote this book and presented it at the WMF, with two others involved in the project: Professor Kevin Ostoyich (co-author) and Charlotte Krüger (granddaughter of Bernhard Krüger – yes, "that" Bernhard). The book is quite expensive ($199 in the US) but students may on certain conditions get a better price. Nevertheless, the talk is interesting ... and free to watch.

Figleaf

Today, the counter stood at over 800 hits. That's not even close to "talking to yourself". It's more like "they are too far away from where it happens", so you are obviously filling a void. Thank you in the name of your readers.

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

chrisild

Thanks, Peter. That is why I wrote that some may find it interesting without really seeing the "need" of replying. As for being far away, heck, I am more than 500 km away from the WMF too. ;D  Was still tempted to go, but with the US trip coming up, I had no time. Then again, this is the biggest coin show on this planet after all (according to the WMF; not sure about this year), and both "sides" (mints/dealers and customers) are happy that the show is back alive.