Silver Ounce 2022 The Milky Way - Pluto, 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).

This coin is the first issue in the Milky Way series by the Czech Mint, which also connects it to the earlier Solar System series.

The mint says about it:
The collector's series of the Czech Mint entitled Milky Way is a loose continuation of the popular Solar System series. The first silver coin, embellished with coloured colouring, repays a "debt" from the past and presents Pluto, which is the last large body of the solar system.

Pluto, named after the Greco-Roman god of the underworld, was discovered in 1930 and became the ninth planet of the solar system. However, astronomical classification was changed and the distant body was demoted - classified as a so-called dwarf planet in 2006. It is thought to have a solid core and its rugged icy surface is made up of methane, nitrogen and water. The average temperature is minus 230 degrees Celsius. Although Pluto is smaller than our Moon, it has five known satellites, the largest of which is Charon.

No photographs or computer graphics were used as a template - the author of the coin created an original watercolour painting