April 25, Vienna – The Austrian Mint will issue today the
first of a new 10 coin series “Austria, by its Children.” The coin series
celebrates Austria through its children, what children are proud of and speak
about when they speak of their home. The
Austrian Mint invited the junior citizens of the country to draw their home
province. Over the next five years the winning design for each province will be immortalized
on the reverse of each of the 10 euro silver coins celebrating the nine
provinces of Austria, while the final tenth coin will
celebrate the country of Austria as a whole.
Austria 2012 10€ Styria Silver Proof
The other side of each coin will feature a UNESCO world
heritage site located in the respective province. The first coin of the series honors the
federal province of Styria, located in the center of Austria.
The reverse of the first 2 coins to be issued this year coin
were designed by 10 year olds Ms. Viktoria Reicht and Philip Ogris. Their designs were anonymously selected from
the thousands submitted through a competition in which all children aged 9 and
10 were invited to submit a design about their home province of Styria.
Viktoria’s delightful design for the reverse features first
and foremost the mountains of her home and the "green” heart in the center
of it all. Of course, the many forests,
trees, apples and the fields of sunflowers that she associates with Styria are
prominent in her design as well. The
design is completed with a couple of pumpkins which Styria is well known for
and from which the famous pumpkin seed oil is produced. Finally, the fresh streams that run
throughout the region also “run” along the bottom edge of her design. Viktoria became somewhat of a celebrity in
her hometown of Kirchbach and province upon winning this competition.
Philip Ogris’ design was selected to celebrate the
province of Carinthia (Kaernten) and is the second coin in the series that will
be issued on September 26, 2012. Philip,
who has ten cats and would one day like to be a veterinarian, drew “ibexes” (the
legendary Lindwurm of Klagenfurt), the crystal clear waters of the Wörthersee, and the shinning sun to depict his southern home province of
Carinthia - all in just 15 minutes! Philip attends a bilingual primary school
near the Austrian border with Slovenia, which is why he has captured the name
of his province in both German and Slovenian.
Philip hopes his success will make him famous all over Austria.
The Mint’s Chief Engraver Thomas Pesendorfer carefully
engraved Viktoria’s reverse design for the coin, staying true to her design and
enhancing it with the fine 3 dimensional details that Austrian’s coins are so
well known for. Some of the elements for
which Viktoria originally used color to highlight have been carefully engraved
to highlight their prominence. For
example, the heart shape in which the word “Steiermark” or Styria is located
was a green color to represent Styria, the green heart of Austria.
The obverse of the Styria coin features the old center of
the city of Graz, the capital of the province of Styria. Near the top of the
design one notes the famous clock tower.
Progressing to the front of the design the coin captures: the town hall
(the provincial building of Styria), the baroque cathedral, and in right
foreground is the Palace of Eggenberg.
The old core of the city is lovingly maintained by its citizens and is
has been honored as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Also located on this obverse side of each coin is the country
of issue, “Republik Oesterreich” Republic of Austria, the year of issue 2012
and the face value of 10 euros. This
commemorative coin is legal tender in Austria.
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