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 have a Zodiac-inspired theme.
This coin is part of a series of oval-shaped Signs of Zodiac coins by the Czech Mint, and features Virgo.
The Mint says about it: Who was the mysterious girl who shines in the sky today in the form of the constellation Virgo? It is not entirely certain, but most likely it was Dike - the daughter of the ruler of the gods, Zeus, who walked among ordinary mortals and intervened against injustice. People therefore began to worship her as a judge and goddess of justice. Those who have been assigned the sign of the Virgin tend to be diligent, consistent and practical and we can rely on them. They want to have their life firmly in hand and achieve all their goals. They have their feet firmly on the ground, but their pragmatism can turn into pessimism, an unhealthy obsession with details and over-criticism.
The unusual oval-shaped coin bears a coloured image of the Virgin on the reverse side. No photographs or computer graphics were used as the basis for the colouring - the author of the coin, Asamat Baltaev, DiS., created an original watercolour painting for it. |