1988 Republik Osterreich 5 Schilling!

Yes, I did get the alignment off but the picture still gets the job done. For a $5.00 coin it is relatively small, but considering Austria didn't have the best economy, it's not too bad. It's only a little bigger than its 1 Schilling cousin but that coin was made of aluminum-bronze which is cheaper meaning more, just not too much more, money could go into the production of one of these than into the 1 Schilling even at relatively similar diameters, widths, etc. The exchange rate for this coin was 5 Schillings=$0.49 USD  but since it was demonetized, it has no exchange value. Luckily it has the $0.60 numismatic value which is more than I paid for it!

NOTE: Go ahead and play around on that site a while. It has most of the living and dead currencies from around the world and it's pretty fun to see how much your collection would be worth without the numismatic value.

1961 Republik Osterreich 1 Schilling!

It's a golden Christmas Eve! Well, sort of. I bought this aluminum-bronze coin at the flea market for $0.10-$0.20 and though it is is demonetized it is worth about $1.00. That's the power of being an old coin from a poor (at that time) country. At least they weren't as poor as Italy. Anyway the schilling was the Austrian dollar equvalent being comprised of 100 Groschen. On the obverse "REPUBLIK OSTERREICH" means Austrian Republic and on the reverse "EIN SCHILLING" means One Shilling. Also on the reverse are three edelweiss flowers which you can read all about in that link.

If I get any coins tomorrow morning I'll be sure to post them and if not I may do a present post or something. MERRY (almost) CHRISTMAS!


By the way the answer to last week's trivia question was 6. One person answered the poll this week with the answer 4. There will not be a poll this week as I have something special planned for next Monday so the next poll will start next Tuesday and last to the Monday after it as usual.

1895 Austrian 10 Heller!

Got this for free with that Morgan Dollar Love Token a long while back. I also got a 1909 version of this coin for free which hasn't been featured yet. On to the coin. It has no writing other than the date and the 10 which, to a collector who knows little to nothing about these types of coins, could be the Austrian eqivalent to 10 cents or 10 dollars. Well, since 100 Heller = 1 Krone I'd say this is the 10 cent equivalent. It has gained five times it's original value being worth about $0.50.