Austria Mint has released new coin composed of an outer silver ring and colored inner niobium core; 2013 Tunnel Construction 25 Euro Silver Niobium Coin. The new coin illustrates Austria’s long and influential contribution to tunnelling.
Minted to a maximum of 65,000 pieces in Special Uncirculated quality only, the coin contains 9 grammes of 900 Fine Silver in its outer ring and 6.5 grammes of 998 pure niobium. Each piece is encapsulated, boxed and comes complete with a numbered certificate guaranteeing its authenticity.
On the obverse of the coin, a present-day tunnel boring machine is depicted on the ice-blue niobium core. Its rotating motion is symbolized by three arrows that go up and around from right to left. The twinned set of three straight lines, located in the top part of this design field, is a schematic representation of the air access tunnels that must be part of a tunnel’s overall design.
The obverse’s outer silver ring shows the mountains through which the machine pierces. Also located on this side of the coin is the country of issue, “Republik Oesterreich”; the face value of 25 euros; and the year of issue, 2013.
The coin’s reverse design uses the niobium core to depict a twinned road tunnel entrance, similar to the many that dot the Austrian and Alpine landscapes. In the silver ring there is a depiction of a tunnel worker, wearing working clothes that were common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, using a pneumatic drill to loosen rock. The word “Tunnelbau” (tunnel construction) is located in the lower portion of the outer silver ring.
Technical Specifications:
quality: Special uncirculated
collection: Silver-Niobium
face value: 25 Euro
date of issue: 23.01.2013
coin design: Herbert Wähner
diameter: 34.00 mm
alloy: Silver-Niobium
ring: Silver Ag 900
pill: Niobium Nb 99,8
fine weight: 9.00 g
total weight: 16.50 g
An alpine landscape peppered with both road and rail tunnels, Austria is also a world authority in tunnel construction. The ‘New Austrian Tunnelling Method’, which uses the geographical stress of surrounding rock to strengthen a tunnel, was developed from 1957 to 1965 and has since done a great deal to revolutionise tunnel construction around the world.
Source: Austria Mint, Numismaster.com
