Richard Borek group of companies

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The Richard Borek group of companies in Braunschweig is one of the oldest mail-order companies in Germany (since 1906) and a globally important mail-order company for stamps, coins and historical securities. The group of companies mainly includes the stamp retailer "Richard Borek GmbH & Co. KG" and "MDM Münzhandelsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG Deutsche Münze".

In addition, there is the Henning Borek group of companies consisting of “Borek media GmbH” (formerly “Pigge-Druck”) and the “ Archiv Verlag ”.

history

Sack Street around 1900, Anton Borek's shop on the left
"Borek am Dom" 2013

The company began in a hat or fur shop that the furrier Anton Borek opened in 1870 in downtown Braunschweig at Sack 11. In 1893 his son Richard (1874–1947) hung a sheet of stamps in the shop window there.

He soon discovered that the coveted Liebig collector's pictures were not attracting any interest in Italy, and he imported large quantities of these pictures. There were also postcards that had just become fashionable. In 1906, Borek had the then new idea of ​​importing unused postage stamps from abroad. Shortly afterwards he sent out the first list of offers and thus founded the mail order company.

In 1907 he was able to move into his own shop on Wilhelmstrasse and subsequently also added accessories such as albums and catalogs to his range. He bought a commercial building at Domplatz 4 in an advertising location on the historic Burgplatz with the city's landmark, the Braunschweig Lion . This house was the company's headquarters until 1985 and is still his shop today (“Borek am Dom”).

In 1918 Borek founded his own printing company for his brochures, Richard-Borek-Druck , and in 1925 he organized the first remote auction for “rarity stamps”. After the Second World War, Richard Borek junior (1911–1993) took over the Pigge printing company in Bodenwerder , which was founded in 1790 and moved to Braunschweig in 1950. In 1960, Borek's list of offers, the novelty “Hobby Prospect” , reached a circulation of 3.5 million pieces. For the 75th anniversary in 1968, Borek published the book "The History of the House of Richard Borek, Braunschweig" in his own publishing house.

In 1970, on the occasion of the issue of 10 DM special coins for the 1972 Olympics in Munich, he founded the MDM Münzhandelsgesellschaft mbH Deutsche Münze .

In 1971 Henning Borek took over Pigge-Druck . He later founded the Archiv Verlag , which specialized in the faithful reproduction of historical documents. These companies now form the Borek media GmbH group . Richard Borek III. took over the stamp and coin business in 1975. Their business expanded to such an extent that the Richard Borek group of companies acquired a new property at 7 Theodor-Heuss-Straße in 1983.

The company celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1993 with a ceremony in the Braunschweig State Theater . For its 111th birthday in 2004, the “Borek am Dom” store displayed an original stamp for each year of the company's history, which documented a formative political, cultural or historical event of the respective year with its motif.

Managing directors authorized to represent the company in 2018 were Richard Borek, Niels Hagemann and Hildegard Alexius-Salwiczek.

Cooperations

The Richard Borek stamp retailer is, among other things, the official agency for some postal administrations and sells stamps from around 300 countries. A cooperation agreement has existed with the Philately Division of Deutsche Post AG since 2002 in order to “further stimulate the stamp market in Germany and provide stamp collectors with even better philatelic offers”. In 2004, the company secured the rights to exclusively issue the official postage stamps for the 2006 World Cup in Germany from the world football association FIFA . Borek also maintains a partnership with the National Olympic Committee for Germany (NOK). For the House of History of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn, the company designs postage stamp presentations on contemporary history topics.

The MDM Münzhandelsgesellschaft Deutsche Münze describes itself as the "official representation" of mints in Germany and various other countries. To what extent this is actually an official representation is unknown. In 2003, Richard Borek and Franz Beckenbauer, as President of the FIFA Organizing Committee, signed a contract for the worldwide distribution of the official 10 Euro silver commemorative coins for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Around 20 million of these coins had been issued by 2006. The cultural program was financed with the proceeds, around 30 million euros.

criticism

MDM has been criticized in the past for improper advertising. The company logo , a stylized federal eagle , is also questionable.

Since 2018, MDM seems to have been paying more attention to its perception among customers and collectors: with the launch of its own coin blog ( MDM blog ), the company is trying to establish itself as a content provider on the subject of coins.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Website MDM Deutsche Münze, imprint. From MDM.de, accessed December 30, 2018.
  2. ↑ Deutsche Post competes with branded retailers . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung from June 12, 2002.
  3. ↑ Don't take everything at face value. Archived from the original on January 10, 2017 ; accessed on March 25, 2018 . Press release of the consumer association Saxony from January 15, 2009.
  4. ↑ Inadmissible advertising for coins in "strictly limited edition". LG Braunschweig from December 21, 2011 (9 O 1286/11). Federal Association of Consumer Organizations, December 21, 2011. From VZBV.de, accessed on December 30, 2018.
  5. ^ Judgment of the Regional Court of Braunschweig, business no. 9 O 1286/11 of December 21, 2011. From VZBV.de, accessed on December 30, 2018 (PDF ; 243 kB).
  6. ↑ Judith Zacher: Not all gold that glitters - Wertinger Pensioner falls for MDM Münzhandel. Bayerischer Rundfunk, July 1, 2016. From BR.de, accessed December 30, 2018.


Coordinates: 52 ° 15 '5.8 "  N , 10 ° 31' 5.5"  E