2023 2/3oz Austria The Snowflake - Secrets of Snow - 20 Euro Silver Proof Coin

When the first flakes fall as if they were dancing in the air, many a heart beats faster and is happy about snow. The landscape transforms, takes on a radiant white robe – what winter magic. All snowflakes are hexagonal, but no two hexagons are the same. The famous astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571 to 1630) felt a childlike joy when it began to snow, perhaps arousing his curiosity and prompting him to write the first scientific paper on snow crystals. The full title of the treatise is Strena Seu De Nive Sexangula (New Year's Gift or On the Hexagonal Shape of Snow). 

The coin “The Snowflake” preserves an otherwise fleeting appearance, it brings a snow crystal before our eyes. The one side shows a greatly enlarged snowflake. An ice blue gemstone is placed in the center. Parts of the snowflake's outline are polished. The other side shows a young woman in profile: an allegory of winter, a snow princess. She wears a crown and cloak, both decorated with snow crystals. The background is partially polished in the area of the crown, as well as in the lower right area of the coin, where snow crystals are formed.