| Description : The motif, designed by Herbert Wähner, depicts two
gods from Roman mythology, which appear on the stone relief above the entrance to the main building of the Austrian
National Bank (OeNB). On the coin superimposed on an illustration of the main building of the OeNB, designed by the
architect Leopold Bauerstone are the two Roman Gods. On the left Mercury, who was the messenger of the gods and god of
merchants and trade with his attribute, the staff of Mercury, and on the right Fortuna, the goddess of fate and prosperity,
depicted with a horn of plenty. A band runs along the lower edge of the coin's inner part, which is intended to
refer to the red‐white‐red design of the Austrian flag. According to the heraldic rules of tincture, vertical
hatching symbolises the colour red, but not the depicted radial orientation of the hatching. The years "1816" and
"2016" to the left of Mercury refer to the year the OeNB was founded and its bicentenary. At the top it says "REPUBLIK
ÖSTERREICH" (Republic of Austria), below in a semicircle "200 JAHRE OESTERREICHISCHE NATIONALBANK"
(200 years of Austrian National Bank). The coin was minted without a mint mark by the Austrian Mint Münze
Österreich AG in Vienna. |
