I`m what you could call a coin purist: only ciculating legal tender money are coins, everything else is tokens, medallions etc. This gives me a problem, especially i this modern times when every country on earth is mass producing medallions stamped with a value: how do I separate real coins from all the other stuff? Any way: did the austrian 25 and 50 shilling silver coins circulate? Many of them have an attractive design, and I really want them to be real coins, so I can collect them. PS! I hope you understand what I`m writing, I know my english is rather bad :goof: :whistle:
Sometimes purism is not helpful. The silver 25 schilling (made 1955-73) and 50 schilling (1959-1974) were commemorative pieces only, issued at face value but not in use like actual circulation coins. You could pick them up at a bank, and spend them at a store, but they were not common change. The Austrians basically used the 20 and 50 schilling notes then. The later 20 schilling brass coins (1980-2001) did actually circulate, though most people in Austria would still prefer the paper equivalent. In the last few years of the schilling, there were also bimetallic 50 schilling coins. They did not contain any gold or silver but were still not popular in circulation. By the way, don't even think of collecting euro coins. That would make things much more complicated for you. The "circulation coins", and the €2 "commemorative coins", are legal tender in the entire euro area - but some pieces (pretty much everything from the Vatican, and certain years/denominations from elsewhere) cannot be had at face. Then there are "collector coins" which some euro countries issue at face while some have a surcharge. However, those pieces are legal tender in the issuing member state only - e.g. a Dutch €5 silver coin is "worthless" in Belgium or Germany even though all three countries are in Euroland. And surprise, that regional money does not "circulate" in the issuing country either ... Christian
kvarterto: Do you have a list of silver coins which circulated? I, too, am interested in that distinction. Thanks, Dan
You just turned me in to a sad man Ok, thanks. Then it´s just a bunch of medallions. I actually do collect Euro-coins, but only the first sets of circulating coins from each Euro-country (except the sets from Vatican City, Monaco and San Marino). I don´t even dare try collect all the other Euro-stuff, it´s just confusing :goofer:
Unfortunately I don´t have such a list. If I had one, I would gladly share it with you. It`s so irritating not knowing whether or not the coin shaped thing I´m holding in my hand actually is a coin, or if it´s just another medallion made to suck money out of peoples pockets. But some coins not intended for circulation actually did enter in to circulation. The first canadian silver dollar, from 1935, was mintet to celebrate King George V silver jubilee and sold as a souvenir, but people began to use it in every day trade. It can be a bit confusing sometimes being a purist.
Uh-oh. We need to do something about that. In a way Doug was right when he wrote that these coins circulated: As I mentioned, they could be had at face value (the "regular" version, not the proof stuff). You would not really come across them in circulation, but you would not lose any money either by first getting them and then spending them. The situation here in Germany was/is similar: Silver coins (first 5 mark, then 10 mark, now 10 euro) can be obtained by going to a branch office of the central bank, or maybe a commercial bank - you give the cashier €10 and get a €10 coin. Such coins that can be had at face are, in my opinion, in a different category than pieces that carry a surcharge. Circulating? Not really. But a bunch of medallions? Nah. Unfortunately I have not come across a coin catalog that would clearly list or mark coins issued at face ... Christian
As I have to consider all this information I`m not sad anymore, I`m frustrated My purist brain is about to explode
