Tetradrachm – frontal portrait, Noric,
Prince Svicca, around 100 B.C.
Gold stater – rainbow cup,
Boian, Prince Biatec,
around 100 B.C.
Subaerata gold coin – contemporary counterfeit, found at Roseldorf
The first coins circulated on Austrian territory were minted by Celtic tribes (the Vindelici, Boii and Norici) in the 2nd century B.C. and were modeled on Greek and Macedonian coins.
The center of the “regnum Noricum,” which existed in the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C., encompassed large parts of present-day Austria. The most important settlement in Noricum – Magdalensberg in Carinthia – was also a mint. The minting of tetradrachms at Magdalensberg began around 70 B.C. Like the large east Noric silver coins struck in the region that belongs to today’s Slovenia, these coins featured Appollo’s bust on the obverse and a horseman to whom the name of the tribal leader is attributed on the reverse. The silver coins of the Boii, who had founded a mint of their own near Bratislava around 60 B.C., predominated as a means of payment in the Vienna region.
The western Weinviertel, an area in today’s province of Lower Austria, was probably an important trade center. Apart from coins minted in various parts of the Celtic domains, mint quality gold coins and a large number of socalled subaerati coins – contemporary counterfeits consisting of a copper center clad with a thin coating of gold – were found in the area.
The large silver coins disappeared from circulation even before the Roman occupation (15 B.C.). Low-value Noric silver coins, however, were used next to Roman coins until the 1st century A.D.
During the reign of Emperor Augustus (27 B.C. to A.D. 14), the influence of the Roman Empire spread to nearly the entire area of present-day Austria. The Roman troops, flourishing commerce, the construction of roads and the development of urban settlements brought large amounts of Roman coins into the area along the Danube frontier, the limes.
However, no mints were operated in the provinces Pannonia, Noricum or Raetia, probably for security reasons. During the succession battles at the end of the 2nd century A.D. and the crises during the 3rd century A.D., when Germanic tribes overran the Roman provinces, the plague broke out and silver was in short supply, inflationary developments led to the establishment of additional mints in the Roman Empire. Nevertheless, the Austrian territories were supplied by the mints at Aquilea and Siscia (Sisak on the Sava).
Surprisingly, many of the Roman coins were forged. One such counterfeit, known as the limes falsa, seems to have played an important role in local payment transactions and is thought to have been minted at the beginning of the 3rd century A.D. with the tacit consent of the authorities to alleviate the shortage of small coins. Also, denarii subaerati, counterfeit silver-coated denars with a copper core, circulated in the limes regions.
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Denarius, Augustus
(31 B.C. to14 A.D.)
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Double denarius = Antoninianus,
Caracalla (211 to 217)
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Sesterce, Trajan (98 to 117), with Danube bridge near the Iron Gate
Solidus – Byzantine gold coin,
Mauricius (582 to 602),
from the hoard found near Aldrans, Tyrol (Institute of Numismatics, University of Vienna)
Tremissis – Byzantine gold coin,
Mauricius (582 to 602),
from the hoard found near Aldrans, Tyrol (Institute of Numismatics, University of Vienna)
The breakdown of the Western Empire at the end of the 4th century A.D. brought commerce in the Danube and eastern Alpine region to a complete standstill and destroyed the foundation of the money system there. In the two centuries which followed, coins played a negligible role in trade and commerce in the region. Business was transacted only to satisfy local needs. State tax receipts were used to finance armies, the burgeoning bureaucracy and tributes to the Germanic peoples and the Huns, who threatened to overrun the borders.
Only occasionally did coins from other regions enter Austrian territory as a result of wars and skirmishes. Golden tremisses (a third of a solidus) based on Byzantine models were found in Aldrans near Innsbruck, Tyrol. These coins are likely to have been used as ransom for prisoners around 590 after the invasion of Italy by the Lombards.
