When we hear Jules Verne, most of us will imagine his fearless adventurers wandering the sky in the hot air balloon. The French writer, however, knew well in the 19th century that the future belongs to heavier than air flying machines. The proof of this is the second silver coin of the Czech Mint from the miniseries Fantasy World of Jules Verne with the motif of the airboat Albatros.

When the mysterious engineer Robur rushed into the Philadelphia Airline, his members thought he was a fool. Hearings on hovercraft heavier than air were laughing and persisting in the belief that the best way to conquer the heavens is to control the airship. So that Robur could prove his truth, kidnapped a few aviatics, introduced them his breakthrough invention and took them on an adventurous journey around the world ... So begins the story of Jules Verne's science-fiction novel "Robur the Conqueror" of 1886. The description of his invention was incredibly accurate, and in a long time he was ahead of time. Albatros flew on a similar principle as today's helicopters. A set of thirty-seven horizontally rotating counter-propellers carried it. The vessel was made of hardened pressed paper, fueled by fuel-cell electricity and it was capable of developing a speed of up to 200 kilometers per hour. The electric airship La France inspired him a lot. It took a breakthrough controlled flight in 1884 and managed to return to the start inspite of the wind.

The reverse side of the coin, which is once again the work of gifted medal maker Asmat Baltaev, DiS., is dominated by ALBATROS - a non-dissimilar seagoing ship floating among the clouds. The obverse side of the coin is then a showcase of all the inventions from the miniseries "Fantastic World of Jules Verne". You can find there not only the airboat Albatros, but also the submarine Nautilus, mechanical steam elephant and Columbiad moon cannon. All of this is comfortably combined with the attributes of the coin issuer, which is the island of Niue. Since the coins of the Czech Mint are based on this foreign license, they carry the profile and the name of the Emperor Elizabeth II, the year of the issue 2018 and the nominal value of 1 DOLLAR (NZD).

You can store a collection of fantastic inventions into a stylish thematic box, which you can also find in the offer of the Czech Mint.