The three famous namesakes - Charlemagne, Karel IV. and Karel I. - the illustrious personalities of the world history and the prominent rulers who adorn an extraordinary series of gold Smart coins 5 NZD, called the Three Emperors Coins from the Czech mint. An attractive investment opportunity in the form of works of art made of pure gold will certainly not escape the attention of any numismatics!

The last Austrian emperor and the last Czech King Karel I, whose full name is Karel František Josef Ludvik Hubert Jiří Maria Otto Habsburg-Lothringen, reigned between 1916-1918 and became famous as a somewhat tragic historical figure. His journey to the throne was intricate - when a successor Rudolf committed suicide and František Ferdinand d'Este died after the assassination in Sarajevo, Karel was actually the only choice, although he was "only" a grandnephew of the previous monarch František Josef I. He took over the scepter in the middle of raging First World War, which, as a strongly religious man hated, and vainly tried to stop it.

The war ended in defeat after two years, the monarchy crumbled and Karl I. and his family went into the exile on the Portuguese island of Madeira, where he was robbed and left totally destitute. That proved to be fatal, because in an illness he put off seeing a doctor and died of severe pneumonia. His wife Zita outlived her husband by as much as 67 years. The Catholic Church in 2004, declared him beatified posthumously.

On the portrait, created by the academic sculptor Vladimir Oppl, we have the last Habsburg ruler of our country symbolically staring somewhere into the bleak future. The reverse of the gold Smart coin in the value of 25 NZD portrays him in a military uniform with a number of honors. As a background the author chose a pattern inspired by an imperial monogram, embossed with the Czech lion emblem. The Latin words around the perimeter proclaim BEATUS CAROLUS I. IMPERATOR BOHEMIAE REX MXMXVI MMXVI, which means BLESSED CHARLES I, CZECH EMPEROR AND KING. The years 1916 and 2016 commemorate one hundred years since the monarch seized the power. The obverse carries the attributes of the issuer, the year of the issue 2016 and the nominal 25 DOLLARS. Do not hesitate to save your money safely into the one-half ounce of artistically crafted gold!