Numismatik Lanz traces its roots to a coin shop opened on April 1, 1947, on the Hauptplatz in Graz. By the late fifties the business was internationally known, played a role in founding the IAPN, and ranked among the leading European numismatic firms of its era. It remained a family affair throughout. Ernst Lanz (1945-1989) and Dr. Hubert Lanz (b. 1943) joined in 1963 and 1966, and in 1972 the firm held its first auction in Graz, the start of the "Lanz Graz" catalogs, fifteen sales in all.

The turning point came in 1977, when the firm acquired the auction house of the recently deceased Munich auctioneer Gitta Kastner and relocated the auction business to Maximiliansplatz as Numismatik Lanz München, under Hubert's direction. Munich is where the firm made its name, especially in ancient coinage: 164 auctions by its 70th anniversary in 2017, dispersing celebrated collections including those of the Marquis de Hohenkubin, Escada founder Margaretha Ley, the Leo Benz Roman coins, and the Corinth and Euboea portions of the BCD Collection. An early online mover, the firm opened an eBay storefront in 1999.

The auction program wound down after 2018, with the eBay operation continuing for a time. By the early 2020s, with Hubert's health failing, activity had largely ceased, and the firm is now closed.