Czech Mint conquered the Czech Book of Records with the Czech Lion

The Czech Mint in Jablonec nad Nisou set the record for the largest serially minted gold coin in the Czech Republic on Monday morning. This unique mintage weighing 5 kilograms of pure gold attracted a lot of attention. Already at the moment of minting, all the coins out of ten possible coins were booked. There is a hunger for investment gold, which is not subject to VAT, not only in the Czech Republic. 

"For the biggest coin we have minted so far, its owner will pay 7 million CZK," said Aleš Brix, the mint's commercial director, adding that the price of the material on the world markets that morning alone was 6.3 million CZK. Purely theoretically, one could even pay with such a coin, because it bears a nominal value of 40,000 New Zealand dollars and the local bank had to approve its minting, which is why you can find a portrait of Elizabeth II on the obverse side.

The giant Bohemian Lion is impressive not only for its weight but also for another primacy. "It contains the newest security feature, an embossed shield-shaped hologram placed at the bottom of the reverse side of the coin. This hologram is not only a protective element, but also an ornamental one," said Lenka Klimentová, the Mint's spokesperson, pointing out another unique feature, adding that this solution was named after the English pun CZECH SECURITY CHECK.

The minting itself, which took only a few dozen minutes, was preceded by dozens or even hundreds of hours of preparation. "I was very nervous since the morning. You can have something thought up ten times, but it's always the first time," said Stanislav Bachtík, production director of the Czech Mint, sighing as he placed the minted coin with serial number 1 in a special case.

The idea of minting larger diameters than the usual 90 millimetres and weighing more than 1,000 grams was conceived about three years ago. "At the time of working on a high-weight coin for the CNB, weighing 130 kilograms of gold, but which was created using the engraving method, we found that there would be interest among investors in a higher weight than usual and this way was promising," explained Bachtík. For the Czech Mint, however, this meant not only acquiring a custom-made press. Only the testing associated with the production and implementation of the hologram on gold took a large chunk of time.

"The work done on the whole process is enormous. I am very grateful to the entire team involved in the development, from the CNC workstation to the engraving workshop to the work of our technologists," praised the Czech Mint's production director, adding that the minting had to be "first class".

The entry in the Czech Book of Records, which was also observed by a representative of the Dobrý den agency, belongs not only to the five-kilo coin itself, but also to all those who participated in its creation. The Czech lion has always been a symbol of strength and courage. Thanks to the Czech Mint, it also became a bearer of wealth and prosperity with the hallmark of a Czech record on Monday. For how long? "By the end of this year, I dare say that we will break our own record by minting it in double the weight," Stanislav Bachtík revealed.