European Currency Unit Taleur

The ECU was never legal tender in Austria or anywhere else — it existed purely as a basket currency unit used for accounting within the European Monetary System from 1979. Austrian ECU pieces like this one were issued as medals or collector tokens rather than circulating coinage, a technically important distinction that affects how they're cataloged under Austrian numismatic law. The copper composition places this squarely in the lower tier of the ECU souvenir series, which ranged from base metal to silver and gold issues across multiple European mints during the 1980s and early 1990s.