Silver Ounce 2021 Mythical Creatures - Hydra, Coin from Niue - detailed information

Niue, a sovereign state in free association with New Zealand, uses two official legal tender currencies. The New Zealand Dollar is the circulation currency for daily transactions, while the government also authorises legal tender coins in the Niue Dollar currency for collector's purposes.

A number of mints issue a large variety of commemorative, bullion and collector coins under the authority of Niue. These coins are dedicated to historical or general popular culture themes not related to Niue itself. Many of them are in standard bullion sizes - typically, one ounce of silver (abbreviated as 1 oz Ag, where "Ag" comes from the Latin word for silver, Argentum). Many of these feature popular characters from myths, legends and tales.

This coin is part of the Mythical Creatures series of premium bullion coins by the Czech Mint and features the legendary Hydra.

The Mint says about it:
The fifth silver coin from the collector's series Mythical Creatures of the Czech Mint represents a hydra. According to Greek mythology, the parents of the Lernaean Hydra were the giant Typhon and Echidna, who was half female and half snake. The venomous snake monster had countless heads, and when it lost one, two new ones suddenly sprouted in its place. No wonder its killing became the second of the twelve impossible tasks that King Eurystheus assigned to the legendary Heracles.

This demigod also needed help in the fight. The goddess of wisdom Athena advised him to use incendiary arrows to lure the hydra out of hiding place. Heracles' nephew Iolaus then set fire to the surrounding forest and handed his uncle burning branches, because no new head had grown on the site of the burnt head. However, the monster was still alive - its last severed head was immortal, so Heracles hid her under the stone where she sleeps to this day... Therefore, the name of the hydra has become synonymous with the endless struggle with evil.