The shining green coin plays with light as a theme in several respects: it honours the Austrian inventor Carl Auer von Welsbach, simultaneously illuminating the development of lighting from the gas lamp to the light emitting diode (LED) and plays with the physical properties of light in the green niobium core. Depending on the incidence of light, the niobium core is made to shimmer impressively.

The light green colour is the result of anodic oxidation, a unique procedure worldwide in the field of coin production, which was developed by PLANSEE. The oxide layer has only a thickness of a few billionths of a millimetre and provides the desired colour of the coin's core.

On the face of the coin a stylized sun shines in the centre of its niobium core. The silver ring shows a portrait of Carl Auer von Welsbach (1858-1929), a pioneer in the field of light generation. A collage of light emitting devices shows the development of modern light sources beginning with the incandescent, fluorescence, energy saving and the halogen lamps and nowadays with the LED.

The motif on the reverse side is a lantern lighter carrying out maintenance work on one of the gas lanterns which characterised the streets of Vienna in the early 19th century. In the background the famous Vienna town hall is depicted, which even today is splendidly illuminated.

The coin is a legal means of payment in the Republic of Austria.