🇦🇹Austria · Gold Mint

Austrian Mint (Münze Österreich)

Eight centuries old — issuer of Europe’s best-selling bullion coin.

Founded
1194
Location
Vienna, Austria
Coins profiled
2

The Austrian Mint traces its origins to 1194, when, legend has it, the ransom paid for Richard the Lionheart was minted into Viennese coin. Today, as Münze Österreich, it is one of the world’s most respected mints and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Austria’s central bank.

Its flagship is the Vienna Philharmonic, launched in 1989 and repeatedly the world’s best-selling gold coin — Europe’s bullion benchmark, especially across the German-speaking market. The Mint also strikes the historic Austrian gold ducats and the famous (silver) Maria Theresa Thaler, still produced to its 1780 date.

Gold coins from Austrian Mint (Münze Österreich)

Hallmarks & identifying features

The Philharmonic is the widest 1 oz coin (37 mm) and thinnest (2 mm) — an unmistakable profile. Mirror-bright fields; the Musikverein organ obverse and orchestral-instrument reverse.