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Old Austrian schilling notes and coins still turn up in attics, drawers, and luggage decades after the euro replaced them. The country’s central bank continues to exchange these remnants of the past, though most were swapped by the 2005 deadline. Despite the passage of time, some schillings remain hidden—or forgotten—in private hands.
The schilling first became Austria’s official currency on 1 March 1925, marking the start of the First Republic. Over the following decades, it grew into a symbol of stability, closely tied to the nation’s post-war recovery under the Second Republic.
Even now, more than 20 years after the euro’s introduction, over six billion schillings have yet to be exchanged. The total barely shrank compared to last year, as older banknotes decay or get discarded rather than handed in. Still, the Austrian National Bank keeps its counters open for anyone bringing in schillings, offering a fixed rate of 13.7603 schillings per euro.
Among the returned currency, small change proved the most common. The bank took in 928,987 ten-groschen coins, affectionately called Zehnerln. One-schilling coins followed closely, with 788,430 pieces exchanged. Larger denominations also reappeared: over 20,000 100-schilling notes, featuring economist Eugen Böhm von Bawerk, were turned in, along with more than 25,000 20-schilling notes depicting artist Moritz M. Daffinger.
The remaining schillings now exist mostly as scattered relics, their numbers slowly dwindling. While the central bank still accepts them, the unexchanged total represents a tiny fraction of Austria’s past currency. For those who find old notes or coins, the exchange desk remains open—no deadline in sight.
