Austrian 20 Coronas - 6,10 gram gold

Gold from Austria, 20 crowns

Like the ducat, the Austrian crown (Hungarian: korona/corona) is actually one of the historical gold coins. The crown had a special feature: although it was a silver currency, the unit of account was gold. With the currency reform in 1892, the crown replaced the guilder. And it did so as a 10 crown piece and a 20 crown piece. The 10 crown gold coin was produced until 1912 and the 20 crown gold coin until 1915. In 1908, for the 60th anniversary of the emperor's reign, a 100 crown coin was issued, which was also minted until 1915.

All three crowns show the portrait of the emperor, who was confronted with the different interests of the nationalities of the multi-ethnic state of Austria-Hungary throughout his term of office. However, the crowns available today are mostly restrikes of the original coins and bear the year of the last mintage - 1914 for the 10 crowns and 1915 for the 20 crown and 100 crown gold coins.

Please note that the coin offered is an official new mintage of the Austrian Mint. The coins all uniformly bear the year of minting 1915 as the last year of minting of the original coin. Original copies with the minting years 1909 - 1914 are collector's items with sometimes significant price premiums.

Front

In the years of mintage 1892 to 1905, Emperor Franz Joseph I (1830 - 1916) was depicted with a laurel wreath on the 20 crown gold coins from Austria or Austria-Hungary. In 1909, the emperor portrait type marshal was selected and from 1909 to 1911, the imperial countenance with the signature St. Schwartz was minted on the gold crowns. This motif was also depicted on the restrikes of the 20 crown gold coins from Austria from 1912 to 1992. Former Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I is still known to most people as Franzel, Sisi's husband.

Embossed on the edge of the coin is the inscription FRANC IOS I D G IMP AVSTR REX BOH GAL ILL ETC ET AP REX HVNG, which means "Franz Joseph I by the Grace of God Emperor of Austria and King of Bohemia, Galicia and Illyria and Apostolic King of Hungary".

Back

The back of the gold crown shows the coat of arms of the Austrian Empire. The eagle motif with double head and the crown of Rudolf above the two eagle heads shows the inscription CORONAE - MDCCCCXV, the face value of 10, 20 or 100 corona (crowns) and the respective year.
In its talons, the two-headed eagle holds an imperial orb in its right foot, seen from the front, and an imperial sword in its left foot.

Tradeable sizes:
10 crowns, 20 crowns, 100 crowns.