Austrian Gold Coins
Austrian gold coins hold quite a history for gold investors and are highly popular with collectors. The nation of Austria has a rich and proud history synonymous with world power status, dating back to its once extremely wealthy and powerful Habsburg Empire. Even back in the third century BC, Austria was using gold coins, based on Macedonian and Greek coins and made in bronze, silver and copper rather than gold. It was, in fact, the Romans who introduced their gold coins to the annexed provinces of Austria in the late first century BC and these coins, the solidus and aureus, remained in circulation for the entire time the country was part of the mighty Roman Empire.
A former world power
Austria made many gold coins in its glory days and many of those are still in circulation or in collections today. The country still plays on its gold heritage by regularly manufacturing new gold coins too, which often become collectors' pieces.
Austrian gold coins are always popular with both investors and collectors as they are made from 24k gold, which is of greater purity than the common standard of 22k for most gold coins. Austria's economy is very much associated with gold coin production and they trade on their history.
Austrian gold coins - the tradition
There are three main historical types of Austrian gold coin and these are florins, ducats and corona. Although the nation's people trade with the euro as its currency, there is still a buoyant market for gold coins.
The Ducat
The most popular type is the ducat, first minted in the early 17th century and produced on a regular basis ever since. Formerly, ducats were used as legal currency in international trading and many of the world's economies modelled their trade in coinage on the ducat. The two main denominations found are the one and four ducat. The former is made from 1/10 of a troy ounce of gold and the latter is made from just over 2/5 of a troy ounce of gold. On the ducats themselves, the ruling house profiles generally feature, from the royal house of Habsburg. There's an interesting fact about ducats; all the coins dated 1915 weren't actually minted in that year, but rather during later years. Austrian tradition dictates that commemorative coins for empresses and emperors are issued posthumously.
The Florin
The florin was produced in Austria from 1870 to 1892. Its two primary denominations are the four florin ten francs and the eight florin twenty francs. The former has just less than 1/10 of a gold ounce and the latter has nearly 1/5.
The Corona
Produced in 1892 onwards, the corona comes in denominations of ten, twenty and one hundred. The ten contains 1/10 of a gold ounce and the twenty has about 1/5. The purer one hundred contains 9/10.
Newer Austrian gold coins
Austria began to strike philharmonikers in 1989, weighted in 1/2, 1/4 and 1/10, along with a single troy ounce of gold. These coins are designed with a commemoration to Austria's Philharmonic Orchestra, which is famed for being one of the world's best. These coins are valued in euros and rate amongst the most popular bullion coins in the world, with new mints being issued every year.
Gold Euros
More recently, in 2002, Austria began to mint gold euros, which are legal tender throughout Europe (although commemorative versions of the gold euro are only used as legal tender in Austria). The 2002 issue features St. Benedict.
Other coins
Austria has also minted other gold coins including crowns and schillings. They are favoured by investors looking for ways to protect their wealth and the coins' historical worth can add additional value beyond the gold itself. The schilling was first introduced in 1924, replacing the kronen of the time. It was minted first in 25 and 100 schilling denominations and was Austria's official currency, with gold issues of denominations up to 2,000 schilling coins, until the euro came into play. The last Austrian schilling was ceremoniously minted in 1999.
The bright future
Popular coins include the commemorative euro coins, which are minted in both silver and gold, although with other precious metals on rare occasions. The commemorative issues are only used as legal tender in Austria, unlike normal issue Austrian euros, which are legal tender throughout the Eurozone.
Collectors' pieces
The bullion value of collectors' coins also greatly exceeds their face value, which is why they aren't generally meant for payment, but viewed as collectors' coins. They are generally minted in honour of great historical events or anniversaries, along with current events of great importance. Generally, the country will mint over ten of these commemorative coin runs each year, with their face values ranging from one through to 100 euros.