The replica of Duke Boleslav II denarius (972-999) commemorates the 1000^th anniversary of death of this great ruler from the beginnings of the Czech state. The first Czech coins, so-called “big denarii“, were struck by his father, Boleslav I (935-972) probably in the 960s. The oldest motif used on a Czech coin was a cross and a tabernacle – it was taken over from the Bavarian coinage of the period. The expansion of the Czech dukedom of Boleslav I and Boleslav II (it spread over Silesia, Moravia and southern Poland to what is today western Ukraine) was accompanied by an economic boom. It was mirrored in a unique development of iconographic motifs on Czech coins; rare at that time even by European standards. In addition to the cross and tabernacle, the motifs also include God’s hand, swords, anchors, head of Jesus Christ, birds of Eden and rulers’ busts. New motifs began to appear on Czech coinage next to motifs which were taken over from other mintage areas (Bavarian, Italian, Byzantine and Anglo-Saxon) and iconographically redesigned. The replica represents a denarius from the 990s struck by the pattern of Anglo-Saxon pennies of King Ethelred II (so-called ethelred’s type coins). According to this pattern, the coins feature also names of mintmasters (OMERIZ) along with names of dukes (BOLESLAV DVX – duke Boleslav) and mints (PRAGA CIV[ITAS] – the city of Prague). This Czech coin was struck in large quantities and used primarily for trading abroad; similar to its Anglo-Saxon model it travelled especially to the Baltic area controlled at the time by Vikings.