Silver ‘Boom’ Continues at Austrian Mint, Gold Demand Retreats on Price
Silver 'Boom' Continues at Austrian Mint
Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg
An employee displays two of its best-selling Vienna Philharmonic gold coins at the Austrian mint.
An employee displays two of its best-selling Vienna Philharmonic gold coins at the Austrian mint. Photographer: Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg
SILVER BOOM CONTINUES
Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg
An employee at the mint oversees the production of pure silver 150 euro coins.
An employee at the mint oversees the production of pure silver 150 euro coins. Photographer: Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg
Silver ‘Boom’ Continues at Austrian Mint, Gold Demand Eases
Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg
A die for the Vienna Philharmonic 100 euro gold coin sits on display at the Austrian mint.
A die for the Vienna Philharmonic 100 euro gold coin sits on display at the Austrian mint. Photographer: Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg
Roll of Silver
Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg
The Austrian mint expects silver coin production to rise by up to 36 percent.
The Austrian mint expects silver coin production to rise by up to 36 percent. Photographer: Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg
Silver 150 Euro Coins
Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg
The mint will produce up to 15 million 1-ounce silver coins in 2011, up from 11 million last year.
The mint will produce up to 15 million 1-ounce silver coins in 2011, up from 11 million last year. Photographer: Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg
Muenze Oesterreich AG, the Austrian mint that makes the best-selling gold coin in Europe, expects silver coin production to rise by up to 36 percent in 2011, Chief Executive Officer Gerhard Starsich said.
The mint will produce up to 15 million 1-ounce silver coins in 2011, up from 11 million last year, Starsich said in response to Bloomberg questions today in Vienna. The mint sold a record 903,047 of its top-selling 1-ounce Philharmonic gold coins last year, Starsich said, without giving a forecast for the current year.
“Silver continues to boom while gold has retreated a little bit because of the price,” Starsich said at a tour of the former Hapsburg palace in downtown Vienna, where the 800- year-old company makes its coins.
The mint makes all of the country’s coins, including the Austrian National Bank unit’s hand-polished gold Philharmonics. It has also made precious-metal coins for countries such as Ireland, Latvia and Oman.
The Austrian Mint stopped making silver coins for general circulation in February after the price of the metal doubled in a year and exceeded the 10-euro face value. Silver for immediate delivery extended gains in London, rising as much as 5 percent to $36.4650 an ounce earlier today.
Austria is experimenting with new rare-Earth metals to forge into coins, Starsich said. The mint’s limited edition niobium coins have sold out four times since their inception in 2003. They have a 25-euro ($35) face value and retail for 47 euros.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Tirone in Vienna at jtirone@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net
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