November 20, 2014 – The sixth silver coin in the “Austria, Piece by Piece” series designed with the help of children will feature Tyrol, a land of fairy tales with beautiful mountain vistas, lovely lakes and lush green landscape dotted with castles in the heart of the Alps.
Austria/ 10 Euro/ Silver .925/ 17.3 g/ 32 mm/ Designer: Herbert Wähner/ competition winner: 2b-Klasse Neue Mittelschule Rattenberg.
It is not unusual to see the people of Tyrol wearing the traditional tracht or clothing that is so typical of the Germanic world: lederhosen, dirndls and of course Tyrolean hats. The hats of Tyrol take on very special proportions. The feathered hats of Tyrol may be worn on a regular basis. However every 5 years there is a special fest called Telfer Schleicherlaufen in the small village of Telf when men wearing spectacular costumes and extravagant hats parade through the village as part of the local Carnival celebrations. This Schleicherlaufen /parade is listed by UNESCO as an intangible cultural world heritage event.
The Tyrolean Rifles wearing traditional hat styles as part of their village costume. Photo: HaTe/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en.
These hats are delightfully presented on the winning design for this coin featuring the province of Tyrol. It was designed cooperatively by a class of 9 and 10 year old school children from the town of Rattenberg in Tyrol. Rattenberg interestingly is the smallest town in Austria with only 400 inhabitants.
The obverse of the coin depicts three men with the elaborate hats and costumes parading through the center of Rattenberg with the rugged mountain landscape in the background. Pretzels hang from the flagpole carried by the first man in the parade. Austrian houses with typical traditional architecture and a twin-spired church complete the design along the left side. This side of the coin also features the country of issue, “Republik Oesterreich” Republic of Austria, the year of issue 2014, the face value of 10 euros and the name of the region, Tirol/Tyrol.
View on Bergisel from the Brenner Pass Road. Photo: Veit Mueller/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en.
The collage was designed and engraved on the reverse by mint engraver Herbert Waehner. The children who designed the other side also decided what key symbols of Tyrol should be included on the reverse side. Two couples in traditional regional tracht dance along the left side of the coin. The rising sun bathes the snowy mountain peaks with its soft rays. An Ibex proudly stands on a peak among Coniferous trees. In the center is the contemporary designed Bergisel Ski Jump located in Innsbruck. To the right of this is a harp, the base of which is adorned with the coat of arms of Tyrol. Right of these two items is a top-down view of the famous feathered Tyrolean hat, which, along with a small sailboat, seems to be floating on one of the many lakes of Tyrol.
The silver “Tyrol” coin is legal tender and will be available in two finishes, Proof and Special Uncirculated, with a maximum mintage of 30,000 and 40,000 respectively. The proof coins come encapsulated in a presentation case with a numbered certificate of authenticity. The certificate includes all the technical details as well as background information about the series. The special uncirculated coins are available in a blister pack with Tyrolean themed design on the sleeve.
The coin will also be available in Austria only in the regular circulation finish and struck in copper. The copper coins have a rilled edge whereas the silver coins have a smooth edge.
Visit the Austrian Mint Shop here.
For more information on the Telfer Schleicherlaufen, click here.
To view the 5th issue in the series featuring Salzburg, go to this CoinsWeekly article.