Austria TIME ZEIT series Silver-Niobium coin 25 Euro 2016

A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIMEKEEPING

The theoretical meaning of time may have long been a major subject of debate among philosophers, physicists and religious figures, but the more practical discipline of its measurement has proved to be less of a mystery. Dedicated to the history of chronometry, the latest ingenious addition to the Austrian Mint’s best-selling two-tone silver niobium coins, ‘Time’ uses its two-tone niobium core and outer silver ring to show a selection of timepieces throughout the ages.
Though hardly the most accurate of chronometers, the sun and moon, which feature on the coin’s reverse, along with an hourglass and watch mechanism, were widely used until the 16th century. It was determined back then that an hour lasts 60 minutes, though time has since been increasingly sub-divided, first into seconds and eventually nanoseconds. This has had the effect of making time ever more precious, with the phrase “time is money“, famously coined by Benjamin Franklin in 1748, being more pertinent today than ever. Standing for lasting value in a fast-moving world, the coin shows an old-fashioned clock face in the niobium core and a chronometer in the outer silver ring of its obverse, while the reverse also shows a time spiral and the time in a selection of famous cities.
Through the combination of silver and niobium, the Austrian Mint has achieved an internationally recognised innovation of a quality that no other mint has so far managed to equal. The fascinating colours arise without the application of colour, purely through light refraction on an extremely thin, transparent oxide layer. Time fittingly illuminates 2016 again with two colours – light blue and purple.
The Austrian Mint’s silver niobium coins are not only of interest to coin experts but have also reached a far wider audience. All of the coins in the series were sold out long ago and are now only available on the secondary market, where they command prices well over their original value and have achieved cult status.
This new two-tone coin is minted to a maximum of 65,000 pieces in Special Uncirculated quality only and coin contains 9 grams 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.