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 Minotaur.
The Mint says about it: The ninth gold coin of the Czech Mint from the Mythical Creatures collector's series features the Minotaur. Minos, king of Crete, was the most powerful ruler of the entire Mediterranean. His land was surrounded by water, and he regularly sacrificed to Poseidon to keep his favour. But the white bull that was to be slain in the name of the god of the seas was so beautiful that Minos spared him. An angry Poseidon decided to punish the king, and so he made his wife, Pásifaé, fall head over heels in love with the animal. They gave birth to a monstrous offspring - a creature with the body of a man and the head of a bull, which was named Minotaur, or Minoan Bull.
The shamed king decided to hide the bloodthirsty monster, which hungered for human flesh, from the world. He commissioned the inventor Daedalus to build an intricate labyrinth to confine the Minotaur, sending him seven boys and seven virgins every nine years for food. The evil nightmare was only ended by the Athenian hero Theseus. He willingly went into the trap of no return to kill the Minotaur... |