Twenty years ago in 1989 the Austrian State Mint passed from the Treasury into the ownership of the central bank. The mint was given the freedom to produce and sell products in accordance with the demands of the modern numismatic and investment markets. One of the very first innovations introduced by the new CEO, Paul Berger, was the production of a gold bullion coin for investment purposes: the Vienna Philharmonic.

On 16th October this year a limited quantity of 6,027 Vienna Philharmonic coins, each weighing 20 ounces of fine gold, will go on sale in Europe, America and Japan.

20 ounces to commemorate 20 years!

Why the odd number? The mint decided to offer 2009 coins (the date of the 20th anniversary) in its three major markets: in Europe, in America and in Japan. Investors still remember the 15 giant coins (each of 1,000 ounces) that celebrated the fifteenth anniversary in 2004, and that entered the Guinness Book of Records as the then largest gold coin in the world. All 15 giant coins were snapped up within days, and the excitement surrounding this special issue of a 20 ounce coin promises a similar market reaction.

The new 20 ounce coin has a diameter of 74 mm and a thickness of 8.3 mm and is housed in a prestigious wooden and red velvet case. Pre-orders for this unique anniversary gold coin have already started pouring into the mint in Vienna. It promises to be a major success as indeed the past 20 years of the Austrian bullion programme have been.

The Vienna Philharmonic Story

The decision in 1989 to issue a gold bullion coin in the two weights of 1 ounce and ¼ ounce was greeted with indulgent smiles. Austria, a small central European country since the destruction of her empire in 1918 and without any gold mining industry to support, was entering the bullion market, long dominated by the Krugerrand and that time divided between the USA, Canada and Western Australia.

Berger and his team decided that music was the ideal theme for their new coin. Austria was internationally renowned for its music, but they decided against the portrayal of one of the many great composers like Mozart, Haydn or Strauss. That would make the coin appear like a commemorative edition for collectors. Instead they chose a living and world-famous musical institution: the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. To their delight the members of the orchestra enthusiastically endorse this choice, freely grant the use of their name. The engraver, Thomas Pesendorfer, designed a collection of instruments to represent the orchestra itself and for the other side of the coin he took the great pipe organ of the Golden Hall in Vienna where the orchestra plays at home. It is seen on television around the world every year on 1st January during the New Year’s Day Concert.

The new Austrian coin was launched in Vienna on 10th October and was an immediate success. The demand in the home market was nothing less than ferocious. In two and a half months 419,000 ounces were sold, achieving with one blow an 18% world market share for the entire year 1989! It rapidly established itself as a serious participant in the international gold market. In 1992 and again in 1995, 1996 and 2000 the Vienna Philharmonic was ranked by the World Gold Council as the top selling gold bullion coin worldwide. In 2008 the Vienna Philharmonic continued to rank No. 1 in Europe and in Japan, and with a year’s market share of 25% it came in 3rd worldwide narrowly missing 2nd place. The “indulgent smiles” have long since disappeared.

A 1/10 ounce in 1991 and a ½ ounce coin in 1994 completed the traditional family of four sizes. In 2008 a silver 1 ounce Vienna Philharmonic was added to the investment range with resounding success.

Looking back on 20 years of continual growth and success, the Vienna Philharmonic has established itself firmly as one of the four great gold bullion coins offered on the international market of today. This one-time issue of a limited number of 20 ounce gold coins is but a fitting tribute to a 20 year long success story that shows no signs of letting up in the near future.

Related posts:

1. Last of the Austrian Mint’s “Vienna Jugendstil” Series
2. Austrian Mint Issues 5 Euro Silver Coin Honoring Great Conductor
3. Gold touches 27-year high of $746.30 an ounce; silver surges nearly 3%

The Austrian Mint has just released their product schedule (known to them as an Issuing Programme) for the year 2010.

The coin schedule includes many coins that collectors should find nearly irresistible, given the spectacular designs the Mint has become known for from around world.

Several of the new issues will be continuations of series started in previous years and one will be the very first coin of a new series.

For reference, here is an image of the provided 2010 coin product schedule (click image to enlarge):

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Read the rest of Austrian Mint 2010 Coin Product Schedule (1,058 words)

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The Austrian Mint has confirmed plans to launch two new gold coins in 2010.
According to news site Silver Coins Today, next February will see the release of the latest addition to the Celebrated Physicians of Austria gold coin series.
The news feeds on this site are independently provided by Adfero Limited © and do not represent the views or opinions of the World Gold Council.

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Available now from the Austrian Mint are 10 Euro Richard the Lionheart Silver coins, the second issue in the Tales and Legends in Austria series. Struck from sterling silver (.925 fine), each coin tells the story of royal proportions involving kings and dukes, queens and minstrels.

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© Darrin Lee Unser for Silver Coins Today, 2009. |
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Twenty years ago in 1989 the Austrian State Mint passed from the Treasury into the ownership of the central bank. The mint was given the freedom to produce and sell products in accordance with the demands of the modern numismatic and investment markets.

One of the very first innovations introduced by the new CEO, Paul Berger, was the production of a gold bullion coin for investment purposes: the Vienna Philharmonic.

On 16th October this year a limited quantity of 6,027 Vienna Philharmonic coins, each weighing 20 ounces of fine gold, will go on sale in Europe, America and Japan.

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Read the rest of Gold Philharmonic 20th Anniversary Commemorate Coin (725 words)

A gold coin has been struck by the Austrian Mint to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the original launch of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra coin.
The piece was first produced in 1989 to mark the transfer of ownership of the mint from Austria’s treasury to its central bank and the latest edition commemorates this release.
The news feeds on this site are independently provided by Adfero Limited © and do not represent the views or opinions of the World Gold Council.

Read more….

Gold hit another record high this week, as the yellow metal moved above $1,070.00 per ounce. “There’s lots of concern about the weakness of the dollar, and this had been driving gold,” said Peter Fertig, owner of Quantitative Commodity Research to the financial website Bloomberg.com. “The fear that central bank exit strategies will come too late to prevent inflation is also giving support to gold.”

As the U.S. Dollar continues to slide, gold may continue its climb to even higher prices. Talks of foreign countries replacing the dollar as the world’s reserve currency were still present in the marketplace this week. China, among others, is considering how to diversify its foreign exchange reserves which lends merit to the continued weakening of the U.S. Dollar. For example, the Dollar Index, a measure against six major currencies, fell about 14% since March, while gold rose about 13% during that same period.

The U.S. Commerce Department released reports this week saying that U.S. business inventories fell by 1.5% in August. This represented the largest drop in the 17 years that the data has been collected. The decline was also the 12th in a row and is an indicator that businesses are still cutting back to deal with weak consumer demand.

APMEX is proud to announce that we have been selected by the Austrian Mint as one of the exclusive distributors of the very limited edition 20-ounce Gold Philharmonic Coin. This coin has an extremely low mintage of only 6,027 coins, of which only 2,009 will be available for sale in the United States. APMEX has these beautiful coins in stock and ready to ship. Enjoy your weekend and thank you for choosing APMEX for all of your precious metal needs.

Gold:
Spot Gold prices opened this week at $1,051.80. The high during the week was on Wednesday, October 14th at $1,070.50, while the low for the week was on Friday, October 16th at $1,042.20. Gold ended the week with a gain of $2.80 at $1,054.60. This week, 2009 1 oz. Gold American Eagles, 2009 1 oz. Gold Buffalo Coins and 1 gram APMEX Gold Bars were some of the most popular items that investors purchased.

Silver:
Spot Silver prices opened this week at $17.79. Silver reached a high of $18.06 on Wednesday, October 14th. The low for silver occurred on Friday, October 16th at $17.18. Silver ended the week down slightly at $17.50. This week 2009 1 oz. Silver American Eagles, 2010 1 oz. Canadian Silver Maple Leafs and APMEX .999 Fine 1 oz. Silver Bars were quick sellers on the APMEX website.

Platinum:
Spot Platinum prices opened this week at $1,344.80, and ended the week up $5.90 at $1,350.70. The most popular platinum products for this week included 1 oz. Pamp Suisse Platinum Bars, 2009 1 oz. Platinum Canadian Maple Leafs and 2009 1 oz. Platinum American Eagles.

Palladium:
Spot Palladium prices opened this week at $322.00, and ended the week up $8.90 at $330.90. 2009 1 oz. Palladium Maple Leafs, 1 oz. Pamp Suisse Palladium Bars and 10 oz. Pamp Suisse Palladium Bars sold quickly on APMEX.com.

Numismatics:
The spot price of Silver has certainly made its impact felt here at APMEX. Peace Silver Dollars grading from Very Good to Extra Fine have been giving Cull Silver Dollars a run for their money as APMEX’s leading choice among investors and collectors. These coins were minted between 1921 and 1935 and they contain .77344 ounces of pure silver. They are an excellent way of positioning your portfolio or collection in silver. Morgan Silver Dollars that grade Extra Fine also continue to arouse investors as silver maintains its slow but steady rise. The smart investors are continuing to add these Silver Dollars to their portfolio on a regular basis.

As we continue our series on Silver Dollars we will be getting into more of a collector’s state of mind – by discussing VAM’s. What is a VAM? A VAM is a specific die variety of silver dollar as defined by Leroy Van Allen and A. George Mallis. Many of these varieties are very highly collectible. In fact, there are Silver Dollar collectors that only collect VAM’s. There is a case to be made that every Morgan Silver Dollar is a VAM, however, there are only a few dozen varieties that are popular and worth considerable sums of money.

Ironically, the more interesting sounding names such as Scarface, Alligator Eye, Spitting Eagle, and Hot Lips, are the more sought after varieties, regardless of their rarity. As there were hundreds of thousands to millions minted, there can be multiple VAM’s for the same date and mint mark. Both the Scarface and Hot Lips varieties can only be found on the 1888-O. Because of the cost involved in collecting and attributing VAM’s, many are graded by a third party grading service. But there are many specialists in the hobby that can easily decipher one VAM from another. APMEX has its very own VAM specialist and has a wide variety of VAM silver dollars in both certified and uncertified states. Click here to view our complete list of VAM varieties!

The Austrian Mint in Vienna is issuing the second coin in its €10 silver commemorative series “Tales and Legends in Austria“. The theme of the new coin is the captivity of the English king, Richard I, on his homeward journey from the Third Crusade in 1192 and the legend of his loyal friend and troubadour who is said to have discovered in which castle the king was being held.

The first part of the story is indeed history. Richard, called the “Lionhearted” even in his lifetime, mortally offended Duke Leopold V of Austria and the German knights in the crusader army by having the duke’s banner torn down from the walls of the captured city of Acre and letting it be trampled in the dust.

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Read the rest of Austria €10 Richard the Lionheart Silver Coins Issued (807 words)

The year 1809 was an important one for Austria in her fight against Napoleon and revolutionary France. On 21st to 22nd May the emperor’s brother, Archduke Charles, became the first general ever to defeat Napoleon in open battle, and in April a folk uprising in Tyrol against its occupation by Bavarian and French troops had begun.

Andreas Hofer (1767-1810) was the innkeeper of the inn “Am Sand” in Tyrol, but he soon became the recognised leader of the Tyrolean revolt against the French and the Bavarians, who, besides being a foreign regime, were also trying to push through their revolutionary ideas of reform and had begun to abolish religious processions and pious practices held dear by the deeply religious catholics of Tyrol.

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Read the rest of Austrian Mint Launches Tyrolean Resistance Fighters Coins Featuring Andreas Hofer (650 words)