Hi, Can anyone tell me about the 1954 Austrian aluminum-bronze 20 Groschen. I've heard it's a rare coin but can find little about it and it's value?
There were 5,343,000 common strike aluminium - bronze Austrian 20 groschen produced in 1954. However, there is a proof strike example (that is, a coin which has been struck using specially prepared blanks, and polished dies ). The proof struck coin is extremely difficult to come across, and would fetch upwards of $100 IF (and that is a BIG IF) it was in pristine condition. Anything less than `pristine' / good as the day it was first minted / no finger prints/ no if's or but's.../ but PRISTINE...then it would be worth as little as it's ordinary brothers. As far as I can tell there were only a few hundred or so of the 1954 20 groschen struck as `proofs' and they were distributed to collectors and dignatories. They rarely appear on the market. The bad news is that I would think that your one is likely to be the common strike type. If that is the case, then it is worth about 10 cents in a (noticeably) worn condition up to $2 in `pristine' (per Krause Mischler `Standard Catalogue of World Coins' reference `Austria' KM2877). Hope that helps.
