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Austrian Mint - Money terms Category: Economy and Finance > Money Date & country: 27/01/2008, Austria Words: 133

Zloty
Originally a Polish gold coin, struck for the first time in the first half of the sixteenth century. Today standard monetary unit in Poland: 1 zloty = 100 groszy.

Zinc coins
Zinc coins were struck mainly in times of war and emergency on account of the low cost of the material - other metals were needed for the war industry.

Zecchino
Venetian gold coin, from 1284.

Yen
Monetary unit in Japan. 1 yen = 100 sen.

Yüan
Originally the Chinese word for dollar, or silver coin the size of a dollar until 1934. Today standard monetary unit and coin of the People`s Republic of China.

Year of Mintage
Struck on European coins since the thirteenth century (first in Denmark). The year of a ruler`s reign can often be found on ancient coins.

Wiener Pfennig (Vienna penny)
The first silver coin struck in Vienna. It was introduced around 1194, after the pfennigs struck from ca. 1130 for Friesach and Krems. On account of its excellent silver content, the Wiener Pfennig was also much in demand in neighbouring countries.

Valuta
Italian for currency.

Weapon money
Pre-coinage means of payment, such as arrow- or lanceheads.

Unique example
A unique coin is one of which there is only one example. Such coins exist from antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the modern age - usually only in museum collections. An example of a unique coin is the twenty crown pattern strike with the portrait of Emperor Charles I (1916-1918) in the coin collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Treasure
Schatz, the German word for treasure, was already used by early Germanic peoples for a struck piece of money in circulation. Like the English word treasure, the word Schatz is generally used for an accumulation of money or merchandise (valuable jewellery, etc.). Its figurative meaning occurs in mein liebster Schatz ('my treasure'): the person one t …

Trade gold coins
Trade gold coins are not valid currency today, but legally regulated restrikes, traded according to the respective gold price, such as the guilders (Gulden), crowns (Kronen) and ducats, which are restruck by the Austrian Mint after the originals.

Tolerance
The scope still accepted for deviations from precise weights, measurements or other norms. Weight tolerance naturally plays a major role in coins made of precious metal. The large Vienna Philharmonic gold coin must weigh one ounce and no less, even by a few fraction of a gram. Even stricter weight tolerance limits than the norm apply to precious me …

Tobacco
Trussed tobacco played the role of money in the region of the pacific islands until the twentieth century. In America, especially Maryland, tobacco money was even legal tender.

Tin
Tin is a relatively soft material and has therefore rarely been used as minting metal; its pre-eminent use is as an alloying material - for example in the production of bronze coins. Tin is also used for pattern impressions before striking the coins.

Thaler (Taler)
When Sigismund of Tyrol commissioned the mintage of the first silver guilder groschens instead of golden guilders in 1486, it more or less heralded the birth of the thaler. The term thaler came into use from 1525. The name derives from the Joachimsthaler coin minted in Joachimsthal, Bohemia. Firstly, a shortage of gold made it necessary to find a s …

Talisman
From the Greek telesma; a talisman was a medal-like piece of metal in the Middle Ages, which was seen as possessing supernatural powers - a charm for protection, for example. The term was extended to include everything bringing good luck or protection, like a mascot in a car. It is advisable not to rely too heavily on this, however.

Talent
From the Greek talanton = scales; Greek and Roman weight unit for a certain sum of money. We have shifted the word´s association of material, monetary value to one expressing admirable human characteristics: talents are a person´s inherent abilities, as given by God.

Strip
The preliminary material for coins: the cast metal billet is cut into strips. The strips are rolled to the thickness of a coin, from which the planchets (the blanks to be struck into coins) are punched out.

Sterling
Name of the penny introduced by Henry II in 1180. We know the term in its association with the English pound: pound sterling. The alloy is sterling silver with a standard fineness of 925/1000. The Austrian 500-schilling silver pieces have this fineness.

Special commemorative coins
Coins which as a rule are issued for 'special occasions', or are associated with certain topics, such as the 'Millennium Series'. Are only struck in the highest proof quality and always in strictly limited issues.

Spade money
Barter money before coins came into use. Derived from using spades and hoes as means of barter, a miniaturised spade was used as a symbol in China, becoming an object of barter similar to money (= character money).

Sovereign
Introduced by Henry VII of England in 1489, the gold piece corresponded to a pound of silver money or 20 shillings. It is still struck nowadays when needed.

Sou
(previously sol from solidus) French copper coin. The word remained in use until the twentieth century as the name of the 5-centime piece.

Sixpence
English half-shilling, first struck in the reign of Edward VI in 1551. After introduction of the decimal system in England, the sixpence was abolished.

Silver currency
The monetary system in which silver money is legal tender, whereby gold coins are used only as trade currency without a legal basis. A purely silver monetary system existed in Europe from the time of Charlemagne until the fourteenth century. In Austria, silver currency (guilders) was only valid until the introduction of the crown monetary system in …

Silver commemorative coins
Commemorative coins of silver dedicated to specific occasions. They can be issued both as single coins and as a series, for instance the 500 schillings series Österreich und sein Volk (Austria and its people), or the 25, 50, 100 and 500 schillings silver commemorative coins of the Republic of Austria.

Silver
Latin argentum; used as coin metal only after electron metal, because it was more difficult to obtain. Between the tenth and the twelfth century, most of the silver in Europe came from the Harz mountains. The Schwaz silver mine in Tyrol boomed from the fifteenth century onwards. From the mid-sixteenth century, most silver came from America.

Shekel
Standard monetary unit of Israel - 1 New Shekel (NIS) = 100 agorot.

Sesterce
From Latin semistertius, i.e. worth two and a half asses. Roman coin as of 211 BC, struck in small quantities as a silver coin, in imperial times made of brass (1 sestertius = 4 asses).

Screw press
A coining machine invented around the mid-sixteenth century, which since 1650 had superseded earlier coining methods such as hammer striking and rocker-arm or roller presses, but which only became generally used after 1700. A large screw made the upper die hit the blank and the lower die with a spring impact.

Schilling (shilling)
Old High German scilling - probably after scilt - schild, shield - thus a shield-like coin; counter coin in the Carolingian monetary system since the eighth century. The shilling was struck for the first time as a piece of money in France in 1266. It was at first a twelve-pfennig piece in South, South-West and North Germany, Austria and Switzerland …

Schilling - Austria
The Austrian schilling superseded the crown as monetary unit in 1924 and, after the period of the reichsmark during the war years, was the respected Austrian currency until the end of 2001. The one-schilling piece is a beautiful, simple coin. The term 'hard schilling' was an indication of the stability of the Austrian currency.

Scherf
Half a pfennig, above all in the time of the Hohenstaufens. Martin Luther coined the expression Scherflein (= little mite) for coins of the lowest value. Today, the idiom sein Scherflein beitragen is still used in German (i.e. 'to pay one´s mite').

Rupee
Standard Indian monetary unit. Originally silver coins with a total weight of 11.53 g worth 40 dams. The British East India Company adopted the currency name, a rupee then being worth sixteen annas. Many rupees found their way through trade to East Africa and also became the standard monetary unit there in the nineteenth century. In German East Afr …

Rouble
Standard Russian monetary unit. Term used since the fourteenth century in Novgorod for silver ingots of around 196 g. The rest of Eastern Russia had the light rouble of around 94 g. The rouble was struck as a coin for the first time in 1654, and was subdivided into 64 kopeks. Peter the Great (1672-1725) introduced the decimal system: 100 kopeks to …

Roller press striking
A process first introduced in Hall/Tyrol in the mid-sixteenth century. Used in Austria until the mid-eighteenth century. Roller press striking involved two rollers rotating against each other which had up to 6 larger or 19 smaller 'coin dies' for front or reverse side. The coins were cut out of the metal strips only after the rolling process.

Rocker-arm press
A rocker-arm press is a special form of a roller press. It involved semi circular dies ('pockets'), which protruded from their fixtures like mushrooms. The surfaces to be struck were located opposite each other - above and below. The blank was placed between the two surfaces of the dies and strong pressure exerted, transferring the coin images to t …

Reverse
The rear side of coins and medals.

Ring money
Pre-coinage jewellery money, already in use before metal. Rings and necklaces for barter - also after the introduction of metal.

Restrikes
Coin restrikes are coins struck in later times using the original die of coins that are no longer in circulation. The Austrian Mint restrikes originals of guilders, ducats and crowns, Maria Theresa thalers, and historic medals. All coin restrikes must be regulated by law.

Rentenmark
German monetary unit, introduced instead of inflation money from November 1923 at a ratio of 1:1 billion. Coverage comprised the entire forestry stocks of Germany.

Reichsmark
(RM) Monetary unit in the German Reich from 1924 onwards, after the stop-gap solution of the rentenmark. Devaluation began in 1936 because of the high cost of re-armament. After the currency reform of 1948, the reichsmark was replaced by the German mark (Deutsche Mark - DM).

Reeding
The notching or decoration of the coin edge. Reeding was introduced in the late seventeenth century, and was originally intended to prevent coins from being cut or clipped. The edges of the Maria Theresa Thaler, restruck in its original form by the Austrian Mint, is protected by raised lettering.

Recall
Declaration of a coin´s invalidity. In the past, often used as an excuse to issue new coins of lower value (debased coinage) - to the advantage of the Master of the Mint.

Real
From the Latin realis moneta, the Royal Penny; since the fourteenth century a Spanish and Portuguese coin, struck in Spain until 1864. In Portugal, the plural form of real, i.e. reas, became the reis, which was the monetary unit until 1910. The real also existed in numerous Latin American countries until into the nineteenth century.

Punch
Small positive steel stamp used to strike negative images into a die, for instance ciphers, crowns or escutcheons.

Rappen
Pfennig coins of a dark colour, thus the name (coming either from the Old High German word for dark [rapp] or black horse [Rappe]). The name could also derive from the Freiburg Eagle´s Head pfennig, the eagle seen as a raven. Various coins of this name existed in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Today in Switzerland, 100 rappen make one fran …

Pre-coinage money
The early stages of coinage, such as livestock, tobacco or tea, as reimbursement for goods or services (natural money - payment in kind).

Pound
(from Latin pondus = weight) The Roman pound of 327.45 g was also the standard coin weight unit in the Early Middle Ages. Charlemagne raised the weight of the pound, but the extent is not known. The pound is not only the main currency of Great Britain, but also of other countries such as Cyprus, Syria and Sudan. Also in Ireland until the end of 200 …

Platinum coins
Platinum coins existed instead of gold coins as legal tender exclusively in Russia during the nineteenth century. The reason: large platinum deposits in the Urals.

Plaque (ette)
From the French plaquette. In contrast to round medals, struck for decorative or commemorative purposes as a square or polygon.

Piaster
Originally the name of the Spanish peso, today still legal tender in various countries, including Egypt, Yemen and Lebanon.

Pfennig
(Old High German pending) Old name for the denarius. Until the groschen was introduced (1266), the pfennig was worth one twelfth of a groschen. 100 pfennigs equalled one German mark.

Peso
(Spanish 'weight') Actually peso de à ocho, the Spanish thaler worth 8 reals, introduced by Charles V modelled on the Joachimsthaler. The peso was struck in great quantities out of Mexican silver from 1536 and became the standard monetary unit of Central and South America. Today, it is still the monetary unit in the countries of Chile, the Dominica …

Peseta
(Spanish 'little peso') The peseta was struck from 1772 onwards in Mexico as a quarter peso. It was the monetary unit in Spain from 1868 until the end of 2001: 100 centimos = 1 peseta.

Pengö
Old Hungarian monetary unit - last in circulation from 1941 to 1944. 1 pengö = 100 fillers.

Penny
The English equivalent to the pfennig, minted for the first time in the eighth century after the Carolingian model. A pound was originally worth 240 pence. Since decimalisation in 1971, there are 100 pence to a pound.

Pecunia
Latin for money, derived from pecus, i.e. livestock; thus referred originally to animal bartering, later-on applied to all types of money. We speak of someone´s pecuniary situation when we mean a person´s assets. It was Emperor Vespasian (9-79 AD) who coined the expression 'pecunia non olet' (money doesn´t stink). This was reportedly the emperor´s …

Patina
Also called natural toning. Patina is the change metal undergoes under the chemical influences of air, water and earth (especially in mintage containing copper). The patina of coins and medals is not only aesthetically pleasing, but also usually a sign of age and value.

Parallel currency
Today´s term for the monetary system, common until into the nineteenth century, of paying both in gold as well as silver currency. There is no fixed value ratio between the two metals. Prices and contracts were specified according to payment in gold or silver.

Par of exchange
The exchange rate from one national currency to another.

Obverse
The face or front side of coins and medals.

Ounce
From the Latin uncia = one twelfth of the whole. The uncia was a twelfth of a Roman pound. The ounce was originally a medieval coin weight: eight ounces = one mark. The English troy weight ounce, current since 1526, equals 31.103 g. This ounce is still the standard weight unit for precious metal commodities, such as for the Vienna Philharmonic coin …

Obolus
From obelos, which means roasting skewer. Ancient Greek coin worth one sixth of a drachma. Ovulus, the term for the medieval Scherf (half a pfennig, or mite) is derived from this. Today people still say: 'Jemand soll seinen Obolus leisten' (i.e. to pay one´s mite).

Numismatics
From the Greek nomisma, i.e. coin. The science of coins and money as well as their history.

Nickel silver
Also known as German silver. Alloy of copper, nickel and zinc. Used for a time as material for circulation coinage in Switzerland (1850) and in Austria (1915).

Nickel
Obtained as an autonomous metal since 1825. Used as coin metal mainly in the form of copper nickel (2.5% Ni). Nickel is also the colloquial name for the US 5-cent piece, which is made of copper nickel.

Netsch
Etschkreuzer (kreutzer). Still used colloquially as a pejorative expression in Austria today ('Was willst du mit den paar Netsch anfangen?' - How far do you think you´ll get with those few coppers?) Circulated above all in the region of Austria, Switzerland and South Germany.

Napoleon
The colloquial name for the golden 20-franc piece, which was struck between 1803 and 1870.

Mis-strikes
Mint errors: three types are distinguished: 1.The coin was not properly placed over the lower die and, thus, struck off-centre, so that part of the die did not strike the coin. This was quite a common error in hammer striking. 2.Brockage: for some reason or other, a coin that has already been struck gets stuck in the die, so that a negative, incuse …

Medals for distinguished service
Decorations of honour, usually endowed by the state to citizens of outstanding merit.

Minting errors
There are three principal kinds of minting errors: 1. Coins caught in the press and were double-struck. 2. Mis-strikes, where the die did not hit the blank in the centre (off-centre striking), so that part of the coin is not struck. 3. Planchet defects - the die is either too big or too small for the planchet or blank.

Lydian coins
The oldest known coins apart from the Chinese. They include those of the Lydian king Ardys (652-617 BC) and Croesus (560-546 BC). The first Lydian coins were made of electron metal, a natural gold-silver alloy.

Lira
(from libra, the ancient Roman pound) Silver coin, first struck in Venice in 1472. It was adopted later by other Italian states. The lira was the standard monetary unit of Italy from 1861 to the end of 2001.

Legend
The legend is the inscription encircling the rim.

Krone (crown)
Many countries had or still have the crown as their standard monetary unit, including the CSFR and Scandinavian countries. The name comes from the French coin ecu à la couronne of 1340. The Austrian 'Krone' was the national monetary unit from 1892 to 1924. Today, the Austrian Mint issues restrikes of the original gold crowns.

Joachimsthaler
Struck in Joachimsthal in Bohemia since 1518. Origin of the word thaler.

Kreutzer
First struck in the thirteenth century in Tyrol. Later, the kreutzer became a generally circulated monetary unit. The name comes from the large double cross which was depicted on the first coins.

Jewellery money
A type of commercial money used as means of barter before coins came into use. A major role in jewellery money was played by the rarity and connoisseur value. Ring money is a kind of jewel money.

Jeton
Derived from the French word jeter, i.e. to throw. Also called counter or token. Counters are similar to medals, without monetary value. The Austrian Mint, for example, issues good-luck tokens at New Year.

Ingot
Metal bar, e.g. gold ingot. In the distant past, with the value stamped on it, the first metal money.

Investment coins
Precious metal coins of very high fineness, bought for investment purposes. See also bullion coin.

Hybride or mule coins
A coin is called a hybrid or mule coin if the two dies used for striking its front and reverse side belong to different coins.

Hard money
Coins as opposed to paper money.

Heller
Originally haller or häller; first struck as pfennigs from Schwäbisch Hall around 1200, with a split cross on one side and a hand on the other. They remained legal tender for centuries until 1923: 100 hellers make one crown.

Gulden (guilder)
German gold coin introduced in the fourteenth century, silver guilder since 1559. A thaler was worth two guilders in South Germany and Austria in the eighteenth century. Austrian guilders, struck since the Vienna Coinage Contract of 1857, were Austrian currency until the introduction of the 'Krone' (crown) in 1892. There is also the Netherlands gui …

Groschen (groat)
From the French word gros, i.e. large or thick - in contrast to the thin denarii. Medieval coin, the Prague groschen, the German groschen with a value of 12 pfennigs. The Austrian groschen was still in circulation until the end of 2001. In Germany, the 10-pfennig piece was also known colloquially as groschen.

Greek coins
Greek coins go back to approx. 650 BC. Motifs: at first animals, later also gods. Collecting demands great expertise. Not for beginners.

Gold
Gold, Latin aurum, was already legal tender before the first coins. The oldest gold coins derive from the seventh century BC.

Grading
Besides the age and rarity of coins and the production method, the condition of a coin is also of prime importance for its value. Occasional deep scratches, for instance, diminish a coin´s value more than many superficial ones.

Franc
Swiss franc since 1850.

Frosted Proof
(Polierte Platte in German) Special quality: the coins are struck using polished blanks and polished dies. Special commemorative coins of the Austrian Mint are mainly produced using this special method. Silver commemorative coins are issued in part as proof quality.

Forgers
Forgers had their heyday when coinage was the only available currency. But attempts are still made to 'palm off' forged or counterfeit coins on collectors. Be wary of back-street 'unique opportunities' offered in some countries.

Florin
Gold coin from Florence, first struck in 1252; gave its name to the English florin and the Hungarian forint. Model for the guilder, thus the reason for the abbreviation Fl. found on the original strikes of the Austrian guilder (gulden).

Fineness
The precious metal proportion of a coin. The Vienna Philharmonic gold coin, for instance has a gold standard fineness of 999.9/1000, thus is practically pure gold.

Exchange value
The exchange value is the value of a currency (and other assets, such as foreign money or shares). The exchange value is specified by quoted prices and demand.

Fine weight
The pure weight of precious metal in a coin. The fine weight of the four-ducat, for instance, is 13.7696436 g, while the total weight is 13.9635840 g. The difference is constituted by the weight of the copper part.

Emission, or issue
The official issuing (e.g. through the Austrian Mint) of coins (also of bank notes and securities).

Eagle
10-dollar gold coin depicting the American eagle.