Exhibition : Can luxury be a sin

Luxury is necessary. Luxury brings progress, and 

it exists everywhere in al layers of the society. 

Whether or not you agree with the above bold statements, 

this exhibition may teach you a lot about yourself 

more than any other scripophily exhibition before.

Image courtesy by Wertpapierwelt

What is luxury? 
Kann denn Luxus Sünde sein - Can luxury be a sin, the new temporary exhibition from Wertpapierwelt, examines various aspects of this age-old question. On display are not only objects that can be assigned to individual aspects of luxury but also about 50 shares and bonds of companies that "produced" luxury. The exposition investigates the complexity of the subject along with all its social and economic facets. Dagmar Schönig, curator of Wertpapierwelt, clarifies Visitors will find out what different emotions that the mere word luxury evokes in each and every one of us .

John Mackintosh & Sons, Limited
10% cumulative preference shares of one pound, specimen
printed by Waterlow & Sons, London
Image courtesy by Wertpapierwelt
double-click to enlarge

Digital information at your fingertips

A premiere for scripophily exhibitions, visitors can make use of the Wertpapierwelt app on their Apple or Android smartphone.  The app was created as a digital museum guide in German, English and French. Visitors can also borrow a tablet-pc and walk through the room. Whenever they are interested in learning more about a specific item, they can photograph the QR-code attached to it and get all the information including the high resolution images of the exhibited stocks and bonds.

Wertpapierwelt's app can be used
on Apple and Android devices.

Wertpapierwelt
Wertpapierwelt is run by the Stiftung Sammlung historischer Wertpapiere (Foundation "Collection of Historical Securities"). The museum is located in the town of Olten, only a one hour's drive away from Zürich, Bern and Basel.

John Mackintosh and Sons, Limited
detail from the share certificate above
Mackintosh started producing Toffee-De-Luxe chocolate sweets in 1917.
Today we still know Rolo and Quality Street goodies,
which Mackintosh brought to the market in the 1930s.
Image courtesy by Wertpapierwelt

Practical exhibition info :

• Place to be : Wertpapierwelt Museum, Baslerstrasse 90, Olten, Switzerland
• Opening hours : Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m
• Entrance: free entry for ages under 10, CHF 8.00 for ages under 18 and CHF 10.00 for adults; free entrance with the Swiss Museum Pass
• Special arrangements possible for groups and guided tours, see here 

Wertpapierwelt's one-minute teaser video.

The 9-minute movie can be seen here on the museum's YouTube channel.
The Swedish singer/actress featuring in it, is the very special Zarah Leander .
The original song title is “Kann denn Liebe Sünde sein” (Can love be a sin). 

For the video the museum adapted the song's lyrics and 
had a professional singer to dub it.

F.L.


Two tips for visitors with extra time:
1. Can luxury be a sin is actually a part of a threefold exhibition. These are the two permanent sections :

• Shares & Co - How financial instruments work, displays the multifaceted nature of financial instruments and their workings.
• The Story of capitalism – How shares changed the world is devoted to the origin and spread of the joint stock company throughout the last 400 years.

2. A fictitious trading workplace has been setup with two PCs having access to the collection's database. The database contains both the fronts and backs of all the approximate 10,000 securities in the collection.

Related links

• Further info about the exhibition : in English, German and French
• Wertpapierwelt museum 
• More on CoinsWeekly | MünzenWoche 
• An earlier interview with curator Dagmar Schönig