When you are reading this newsletter, I am no longer sitting at my desk but heading for Vienna. No, this isn't because I like the Viennese Christmas markets better than the one at Basel (what bythe way I do). It's all about a book I plan to write. It will cover the Vienna Philharmonic bullion coin. I can see in my mind's eye some very reputable colleagues giving a sniff. A bullion coin? Howboring! There's nothing to write about it!

But did you know that the Vienna Philharmonic was only made possible due to the fact that the Austrian National Bank bought the Austrian coin privilege together with the Vienna Mint from theGovernment? Did you know that the Vienna Philharmonic was a formidable tool to reduce the enormous percentage of cash sleeping in form of Austrian commemorative coins in collections? Did you knowthat it was the Viennese Philharmonic which allowed the Austrian National Bank to liquidate a large part of their gold reserves without affecting the international gold price?

The Vienna Philharmonic is probably one of the very few coins that really made monetary history. He bears witness to the fact that true discoveries are not only made in the field of ancient andmedieval coins. Contemporary numismatics is full of good and interesting stories that normally nobody bothers to tell.

Yours
Ursula Kampmann

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To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
ONE BIG COIN: THE PHILHARMONIC (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v08n06a27.html)
HOW GOLD COINS ARE MADE (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n09a33.html)