There are still almost seven billion shillings in circulation. The value has only fallen marginally compared to 2023. While less than 6.8 billion schillings worth more than 497 million euros had been exchanged at the end of November of the previous year, in 2024 there is still 495.8 million euros – and therefore still rounded to 6.8 billion schillings – which is “hiding”. .
The National Bank announced that a total of 18.4 million schillings have been exchanged for 1.3 million euros this year. According to information from the National Bank (OeNB), three billion of the billion shillings amount can be attributed to banknotes and 3.8 billion shillings to coins. Most “Blues” (Schilling 1000s), “Mozarts” (5000s) and the like can be found in clothes that have not been worn for a long time, in books between the pages and often in many hiding places in the attic or basement when cleaning out houses.
1.5 million schillings are exchanged for euros every month
At the OeNB, approximately 1.5 million schillings are still exchanged every month. In total, from January to November 2024, there were more than 57,000 shilling notes and 2.8 million shilling coins. This brought the total to 18.4 million schillings or 1.3 million euros.
When it comes to banknotes, the most 20 shilling notes with the portrait of Moritz M. Daffinger were exchanged, with 23,413, followed by 20,983 exchanged pieces of the 100 shilling note with the portrait of Eugen Böhm von Bawerk. But it can also be done on a small scale: this year alone, 850,000 pieces of one shilling were exchanged.
One euro forever 13.7603 Schilling or Alpine Dollar
The euro was introduced as non-cash money on January 1, 1999. In 2002 it became a ‘real’, that is, a tangible means of payment, replacing the schilling in Austria, the lira in Italy, the franc in France, the guilder in the Netherlands, the D-mark in Germany and other national currencies. 1 euro is worth 13.7603 shillings forever.
For the little ones: A shilling is divided into 100 groschen. The smallest coin used until recently was the “Zehnerl” – ten groschen. Such a “ten” has the equivalent of 0.007 euros (i.e. 0.7 cents).
Money Museum takes a journey through time to Alpine dollars
Shilling nostalgics and money lovers can also look forward to the second half of 2025, as the OeNB also announced: the Central Bank Money Museum in Vienna will then be dedicated to the schilling, also known as the Alpine dollar, and its introduction 100 years past . The ‘hard currency’, pegged exclusively to the Deutsche Mark from the mid-1970s, was the currency of the Alpine Republic from 1925 to 1938 and from 1945 until it was replaced by the euro.
The shilling had replaced the currency of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, the crown. The crown was devalued after World War I and the currency system collapsed.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
