Austrian Gold Coins

First coins appeared in Austria about the 3rd century B.C.; they've been all based on Greek and Macedonian coins and not many of them were gold, but rather bronze, copper, and some silver. At the end of the 1st century B.C., Roman legions annexed Austrian provinces and introduced Roman gold coins - Aureus and later Solidus, which were in circulation for as long as Austria was a part of the Roman Empire.

Gold Austrian Ducats were first minted in 1612 and they're indeed most popular Austrian gold coins and they're still issued by the Austrian Mint as bullion coins. Gold ducats were used for trade coinage and at that time there were Ducats or trade gold coins similar to them in many countries. Some countries minted their trade coinage based on the Austrian Gold Ducats. Two denominations of ducats are 1 Ducat and 4 Ducats, which both have high gold composition of 0.986, with 1 Ducat coins containing 0.1106 and 4 Ducat coins containing 0.4430 troy ounce of fine gold.

An interesting fact about these two coins is that all coins dated by 1915 were not minted in 1915, but in the later years - it's an Austrian tradition to issue commemorative coins featuring Emperors and Empresses posthumously (after the death).

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In the period from 1870 to 1892, Austria issued gold coins with dual denomination: 4 Florin 10 Francs and 8 Florin 20 Francs. The reason for that was Austrian membership in the Latin Mint Union, so the coins were designed as trade coinage. Both coins have gold composition of 0.900, with 4 Florin containing 0.0933 and 8 Florin containing 0.1867 troy ounce of fine gold. Coins dated by 1892 are still issued by the Austrian Mint as gold bullion coins.

First gold Austrian Corona coins were issued in 1892 in denominations of 10 and 20 Corona. The coins were made repeating German standards (for gold 10 and 20 Mark coins) and were minted until 1915. Staring from 1908, 100 Corona gold coins were minted as well, including a commemorative issue in 1908 for the 60th birthday of Franz Joseph. All three coins have gold composition of 0.900 and contain 0.0980, 0.1960, and 0.9083 troy ounce of fine gold respectively.

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The Schilling was first introduced in Austria in 1924, replacing Austro-Hungarian Kronen. The first gold Austrian Schilling was minted in 1926 in two denominations: 25 and 100 Schilling. The Schilling was official currency of Austria since that time and there were gold issues of many different denominations with up to 2000 Schilling gold coins. The last Schilling was minted in 1999 when it was replaced by the Euro.

Staring from 2002, Austria has been producing gold Euros in different denominations (including 10, 25, 50, and 100 Euros) and commemorating different events and people.

Gold Austrian Philharmonics or Gold Philharmonikers are official Austrian bullion 24-karat gold coins. They have been minted since 1989 and come in four different weights: 1/10, 1/4, 1/2, and 1 troy ounce of fine gold. They had Schilling denominations until 1999: 200, 500, 1000, and 2000 Schilling, and starting from 2002, the come as Euros: 10, 25, 50, and 100 Euros.

The list of Austrian gold coins mentioned in this lens is not complete, but it introduces you to the most popular gold coins that a beginning gold coin collector can encounter. And since there is no better way better to learn about something but to see it, you can have a look at some Austrian gold coins that are selling now.

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