Twenty years ago, through the combination of silver and niobium, Münze Österreich achieved an internationally recognised innovation in which wonderful colours arise on niobium through light refraction on a very thin, transparent oxide layer. 

The unique appearance and beauty of our Silver Niobium coins is a major factor in their success. Another is that their two-tone niobium core and silver outer ring are the ideal environment in which to explore fittingly fascinating and contemporary themes.

With each Silver Niobium coin being completely different from the last, both in terms of its colour and subject matter, it is little wonder that they have won numerous international award and are extremely popular as gifts and with coin collectors.

So, it is hardly surprising that many of them are sold out and can only be found for sale in the secondary coin market, although often at a considerable premium. We do have the last three editions still in stock, however. They are:

• Big Data (2020), Coin of the Year Award Best Bi-Metal coin;
• Smart Mobility (2021), Coin of the Year Award Best Bi-Metal coin and
• Extraterrestrial Life (2022).

First the bad news: it's getting hotter. The good news is that by acting in an environmentally friendly way, each and every one of us can play a role in limiting the temperature increase. Global Heating, the 2023 edition of our bestselling Silver Niobium coin, is a timely reminder that we need to act before it is too late.

The temperature increase caused by humans since 1850 has already exceeded the 1°C mark. Not that this is a new insight. Back in 2015, the Paris Agreement set the long-term goal of limiting the temperature increase to 1.5°C and this was reaffirmed at the UN Climate Change Conference in 2021. But the current measures for reducing greenhouse gas emissions do not go far enough for that goal to be achieved. It is now feared that a temperature increase of more than 3°C could occur by 2100, which would have catastrophic consequences for both humans and the natural world.

Coin motif

Depicted inside the blue and gold niobium core of the coin’s obverse, a thermometer forms part of a clock that symbolises that time is running out. To its left is a globe on which it says +1.5°C. A globe also features in the centre of the coin’s reverse, which deals with the economic, ecological and social aspects of sustainability. To the right are the silhouettes of two human faces, in front of them a sea turtle is seen swimming. Due to environmental pollution and global warming, this species is threatened with extinction.