5 Euro Cents

Austria's euro coins entered circulation on January 1, 2002, when the schilling was retired after 62 years — a currency that had itself been interrupted by the Anschluss in 1938 and replaced with the Reichsmark before being reinstated in 1945. The 5 cent denomination has been struck continuously across more than two decades with no design changes, a deliberate policy of the eurozone's common coinage framework that locks national reverse designs while standardizing the obverse across all member states.

Copper plated steel replaced the copper-aluminum alloys considered in early ECB specifications largely on grounds of cost and magnet-sortability for vending machine compatibility.