Gold One Thousand Ounces 2009 Vienna Philharmonic, Coin from Austria - detailed information

The Vienna Philharmonic (German: Wiener Philharmoniker), often shortened to just Philharmonic or called the Austrian Philharmonic, is a bullion coin of gold, silver, or platinum produced by the Austrian Mint (Münze Österreich). The coin is named for the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra, which inspired the design of both sides. It was introduced in 1989 as a one ounce and a quarter ounce gold coin. In later years, more sizes and metals were added. On the occasion of anniversaries of the series, the Mint also issued some coins in one-off other sizes, such as this one.

The design on the coin remains the same each year; only the year of issue changes. Both the obverse and reverse were designed by Thomas Pesendorfer, who was the chief engraver of the Austrian Mint between 1993 and 2016.

In 2004, the Austrian Mint celebrated the 15th Anniversary of the Austrian Gold Philharmonic coin series with an enormous 1,000 oz (one thousand ounces) gold coin known as Big Phil.

The "Big Phil" coin consists of 31.103 kilograms of gold. Dimensions were increased by tenfold over the one ounce coin yielding a diameter of 37 centimetres and 2 centimetres thickness (10 times thicker; 10 times wider; 1,000 times heavier than the standard 1-ounce coin). It was one of the largest coins with the highest denomination until it was eclipsed in 2007 by the Royal Canadian Mint's 100 kilograms version of the Canadian Gold Maple Leaf. In keeping with the 15th anniversary theme, only fifteen 100,000-euro Philharmonics were produced. The coin was unveiled in front of the Wiener Riesenrad in Vienna. One of the coins is displayed in the foyer of the Munich headquarters of precious metals company Pro Aurum.