The Austrian Mint goes back some 800 years to 1194, when a mint was established at the court of the Babenberg dukes in Vienna to coin silver from the ransom of the English king, Richard the Lionheart. The first mention of the Vienna Mint dates from 1397, when it was located in the Wollzeile, where it remained for some 350 years. In 1752, the mint was transferred to the former winter palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy in the Himmelpfortgasse. It remained here until Emperor Francis I ordered the construction of a new mint building in 1834, and in 1837, the Vienna Mint moved to AM Heumarkt, which is still its home today.

The mint became the leading mint of the Habsburg Empire in the mid-19th century, and was awarded the Grand Prix at the Paris World Fair in 1900 for outstanding achievements in the introduction of its new Crown (Corona) currency. This was later superseded by the introduction of the Schilling in 1924.

In 1989, the Vienna Mint was converted into a public company called the Austrian Mint AG, a subsidiary of the Austrian National Bank. The event was commemorated by the issue of the Vienna Philharmoniker, Austria's first gold bullion coin. The mint is a major shareholder in Casinos Austria AG and owns Hans W. Hercher GmbH, a major wholesaler of coins, as a wholly owned subsidiary.

The international recognition of the mint's standing in the world of numismatics is testified to by its choice as one of the five mints to issue official coins for the International Olympic Committee for the centennial celebrations of the Olympic movement. Some 300 million coins are struck Am Heumarkt in Vienna each year.

Austrian Mint
Am Heumarkt 1
1030 Wien
e-mail marketing@austrian-mint.at
Web www.austrian-mint.com

See Also: Mint