Golden Vienna Philharmonic - Wiener Philharmoniker
Golden Vienna Philharmonic (German Der Wiener Philharmoniker, Eng. The Vienna Philharmonic) is the most famous gold coin minted by the Austrian mint Münze Österreich, which is owned by the Austrian central bank. The golden philharmonic was introduced into the production of the aforementioned mint in 1989 and has almost completely retained its original appearance until now. The front of this beautiful gold coin shows the famous organ from the "Goldener Saal of the Viennese", the purity of the gold from which it was made and the year of issue. The reverse shows eight characteristic orchestral instruments: four violins and a cello in the foreground, and a horn, bassoon and harp behind. The design of the golden Vienna Philharmonic was conceived and digitally created by Thomas Pasendorfer, and the mint then transferred it to the devices for minting gold coins.
Vienna Philharmonic - Various versions
Until 2001, the nominal value in Austrian schillings was indicated on Vienna Philharmonic notes, and since 2002 they have been minted with an embossed nominal value in euros. Although the amount of gold in the two versions of the philharmonic is exactly the same, some investors prefer the new gold coins, so the price of the new philharmonics (eg 2019) is slightly higher than the shilling gold coins. At the time of writing, the new gold coins are 0,35% more expensive than the old ones. This could change over time, because some of the old gold coins have been broken up due to damage or have been permanently stored in private vaults, making them increasingly difficult to obtain, and this gives them numismatic value.
Gold philharmonics contain 99,99% gold, and are most often produced with a weight of one ounce (31,1 grams), but they also exist in sizes of half an ounce, quarter ounce, tenth of an ounce, and 1/25 ounce. For the 15th anniversary of the gold Vienna Philharmonic, Münze Österreich produced 15 huge coins featuring the image of the Vienna Philharmonic weighing 1000 ounces (approx. 31 kg), which were immediately nicknamed “Big Phil". At the time of writing, each of them is worth over a million euros. For the 20th anniversary of the minting of the philharmonic austhe trije mint produced more than 6000 of these 10-ounce gold coins, which investors and gold collectors were willing to pay ten percent more than the real value of the gold they contain due to their rarity.
On average, several hundred thousand one-ounce gold philharmonics are minted each year, and the years with the highest production were 2008 and 2009, when they were produced 716 thousand and 903 thousand (respectively). This is not accidental, because it was at that time that the worst phase of the financial crisis occurred, when many European banks were on the verge of bankruptcy, and the risk of the collapse of the euro as a currency also increased significantly. This is why people massively transferred their life savings to the safest financial haven in uncertain times, which is gold. During 2017, the mint sold 355 of them, and the total value of that amount of gold was approximately 380 million euros. Münze Österreich also produces philharmonics in silver and platinum, but in much smaller quantities than is the case with gold coins.
Reasons for the popularity of the Golden Philharmonic Orchestra
According to the World Gold Council (World Gold Council), the gold Vienna Philharmonic was the best-selling gold coin in the world in 1992, 1995, 1996 and 2000, and there are many reasons for this coin's popularity. Many investors prefer gold coins over gold bars because of their size. Namely, a one-ounce Vienna Philharmonic is currently worth slightly more than 1.000 euros, while a 1 kg gold bar is worth almost 40.000 euros, which makes it unsuitable for sale if the owner needs a smaller amount of money. Because of this, many gold investors buy gold in smaller denominations, and some of them opt for gold coins instead of gold bars.
Another reason is that unlike bullion, gold philharmonics have a nominal value of u euros, which makes them legal tender in the eurozone. Although the market value of gold coins is higher than the nominal value, some investors clearly appreciate this characteristic. The euro value also means that counterfeiting the philharmonic falls under counterfeiting eurozone money, which is a much more serious crime than trying to sell fake gold, so some investors feel it is safer to buy gold in the form of a philharmonic. Such a fear is unjustified, because with the help of a gold testing device that every serious distributor has, it can be established in a second whether the gold is real or not, regardless of whether it is in the form of gold coins or bars.
The third reason is the fact that the Vienna Golden Philharmonic is one of the first coins made of pure gold (gold ducats Francis Josephs contain 98,6% gold, while South African Krugerrands contain 91,7% gold), and some buyers prefer pure gold.
The fourth reason is the popularity of these gold coins in Austria. In fact, Austrians are even willing to pay a little more for gold bars stamped with the stamp of the Münze Österreich than with the marks of world-famous Swiss mints such as Argor Heraeus. When it comes to gold coins, for the same reason, they are more willing to buy domestic coins than those imported from other countries.
If you are interested in buying gold Vienna Philharmonic players, feel free to contact us!
Author
centarzlata.com
Notes:
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