Austria: pre-euro coinage from 1946 to 2001

[<k>]

Austria, 20 schilling, 1980.

In 1980 Austria issued an aluminium-nickel-bronze 20 schilling coin.

The obverse featured nine men, symbolising the nine states of the Republic.

It was last issued in 1993.

Image courtesy of MA-Shops.

[<k>]

In terms of design, Austria's pre-euro set is the most poorly unified set I have seen. On the left hand side, you see the obverse of the coins. As a general rule, the obverse is the side that carries the country name, but see also: Obverse and reverse. On the right hand side you see the reverse of the coins.

The 1, 5 and 10 Schilling coins each carry a large pictorial thematic design, yet in the case of the 5 Schilling alone, the horseman has been placed on the obverse, along with the country name. Far better to have placed it on the reverse, for the sake of consistency.

Look at the denominations. These appear on the reverse, but in the case of the 10 Groschen and 1 Schilling, they also appear on the obverse - another obvious stylistic mistake.

The shield appears on the 50 Groschen and the 5 Schilling. The eagle appears on the other coins, except for the 1 Schilling, which has neither shield nor eagle. Perhaps it would have been better to place the shield on all Groschen denominations and the eagle on all the Schilling denominations. Some limited varition in the eagles would have been acceptable. However, the situation as it stands is a mess.

Now look at the fonts. Not one coin has the same font on both sides, and they vary markedly also in their size and their spacing. Another huge conceptual mess.

As for the dates, they all appear on the reverse, except for on the Schilling, which is already the odd man out for having no shield or eagle, where it graces the obverse. Yet more inconsistency.

What more can I say? It looks as though 12 different artists, all with very different styles and ideas, had worked on these 12 designs. I am not a fan of the euro, but I was relieved when the Austrians adopted the euro and at last acquired a well unified set of designs.

See: Circulation sets with poorly unified design.

[<k>]

Who can provide any other interesting details or fill in parts of the story?

[onecenter]

Just one small correction, the 1 groschen coin was only minted in 1947 and none thereafter.

[<k>]

Thank you. I've corrected it. A German language catalogue says it was minted until 1980. Does that mean it still appeared in sets?

[onecenter]

I have all the Austrian proof sets since 1964 and none contain this small coin.

Noticing the high mintage figure for the 1947-dated coin may indicate it was minted beyond that specific year for a while, similar to the way the 1 pfennig piece from the Federal Republic of Germany was minted continuously with a frozen date of 1950.

[chrisild]

Somewhat controversially, the eagle on the coat of arms now carried a hammer and sickle in its talons, which seemed like a reference to communism. The Soviet Union occupied a significant portion of Austria until 1955.

That eagle was introduced 100 years ago. The "class" attributes of the Austrian single headed eagle introduced in 1919 simply combine references to the middle class (mural crown), the farmers (sickle) and industrial workers (hammer). The Austrofascist regime (1934-38) replaced all that with a double eagle, so what was introduced after WW2 is what the Austrian republic had before - the only new post-1945 element were the broken chains as a symbol of the liberation.

As for the occupation, yes, until 1955 both Austria and Germany had some kind of occupation status, controlled by all four Allies, not just one. What changed for Austria in that year was that the "Staatsvertrag" was signed - unlike Germany, the country did not get divided. It got its independence back but had to stay neutral. Also, joining Germany was now explicitly forbidden.

When the silver was taken out of the 5 and 10 schilling coins, the fiver kept its design. But the 10 S coin was modified: The silver piece had the red-white-red (tincture) shield while the new Cu-Ni coin got the eagle; only the reverse stayed unchanged.

The 20 schilling coin was not terribly popular as far as I know; the paper equivalent stayed in circulation, and Helmut Zobl's design was ... Let's just say that later "20ers" were circulating commems with various different but more classical designs.

Christian

[<k>]

Excellent info. Thank you!

[chrisild]

At least initially the various denominations were, umm, less disjointed.   The 1, 5 and 10 groschen zinc coins first issued in 1947/48 basically had the same appearance. But some years later they were either replaced or phased out. And I think (could be wrong) that most Austrians were aware of the fact that different denominations entered circulation at different times, without any attempt at making "unified" designs, but did not really care much ...

Christian

[<k>]

Perhaps because of Austrian Schlamperei? 

[Prosit]

More on the 20 Schilling.
The " People" coin  you show was issued in 1980 and 1981. The 1981 is harder to get.

1982-1991 Each year had a different design.


1991-1993
All the previous designs were re-issued with these years dates.

1994-2001
Additional new designs each year.

If you collected every one there are 28 different counting dates as well as design but not counting PP or HDG versions.


Dale

[Prosit]

1947-2001

The rare coins in this era are the 1952 Aluminum 2-Schilling and the 1957 Aluminum 5-Schilling.
You might be able to add both to your collection for under $500 USD...maybe.

The 1964 0.640 Silver 10-Schilling in uncirculated or circulated is a difficult coin to get. If you just randomly
buy one on eBay most of the time you will get an impaired proof instead of the business strike.
There were 195 thousand business strikes minted and the proof sells for less.

Dale

[Prosit]

Also of note during the 1946-2001 coinage.

There were 25-Schillings, 50-Schillings and 50-Schilling Bimetallic coins, 100-Schillings and 500-Schilling coins issued.
Some circulated but not much.

In 1976 there was a 1000-Schilling Gold coin issued celebrating 1000 Jahre Einsetzung der Babenberger in Osterreich.

1991-2001 there were "too numerous to mention individually" commemorative coins issues some in Silver and Some in Gold.

The largest denomination I know of was a 2000-Schilling Gold coin, I believe it was one of the Philharmonic coins but I don't know what all years it was minted. That first one was 1989 for the 2000ATS.

Dale

[chrisild]

Perhaps because of Austrian Schlamperei? 

I had absolutely no idea that "Schlamperei" has a, quote, Austrian or Southern German connotation. Well, maybe in English it does. What a Schlamperei to not tell Western Germans about that.

And yes, their current cash is an improvement. Also because I never liked the aluminum 10 groschen (metal, and fonts/style) much.

Christian

[<k>]

1947-2001

The rare coins in this era are the 1952 Aluminum 2-Schilling and the 1957 Aluminum 5-Schilling.

For some reason, the Austrians seem not to have liked the 20 groschen and 2 schilling denominations. Nearby Germany (Federal Republic) never had a 20 pfennig coin but it did have a 2 mark coin. The German Democratic Republic did have a 20 pfennig coin, though, and a 2 mark coin.