100 Euros Alpine Ibex

The Alpine Ibex coin belongs to Austria's ongoing "Tierwelt Österreichs" (Wildlife of Austria) bullion series, which launched in 2010 as a direct competitor to established European gold bullion programs. Unlike the Philharmoniker, these wildlife issues were never legal tender in the conventional sense for circulation — they function purely as investment vehicles with face values set far below melt. The .986 fineness is deliberately archaic, matching the historical Vienna ducat standard rather than the modern .9999 benchmark used by most contemporary bullion programs.

The ibex itself had been hunted to extinction in the Alps by the early 19th century, surviving only in the Gran Paradiso massif of Piedmont before reintroduction efforts began in the 1870s.