The Czech Mint presents Mercury after Earth, our native planet, and the Sun and the Moon on the silver coin from the Solar System cycle.

Mercury is the first and the smallest planet in the solar system. It is not much larger than the Moon and resembles its surface that is scarred by thousands of craters. Its atmosphere is thin, and even though Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, heat is rapidly escaping from its surface. It is very cold there after dark. While the temperature can rise up to 430 ° C on the hemisphere facing the Sun, the reverse hemisphere is freezing to -180 ° C. Mercury orbits an ellipse that is highly eccentric. Its years are short and do not even last two Mercury days. Therefore, the planet bears the name of the messenger of the Roman gods.

The reverse side of the coin, which was processed by the authors Asamat Baltaev, DiS. and Jiří Hanuš, DiS., presents a colourized depiction of Mercury. The embossed relief presents the Sun around which the planet orbits. The composition is closed by the Latin inscription MERCURIUS. Photographs or computer graphics were not used for coloring. However, coin authors created original watercolour paintings. The surface of the mintage is characterized by a special treatment - a combination of proofing, sandblasting and punching of the stamping dies has created a new effect which is called “moon dust”. The obverse side of the coin is dedicated to the depiction of the entire solar system and astronomical symbols of each planet. In the centre of the system you will find the portrait of the Queen Elizabeth II, the year of the issue 2020 and the nominal value of 1 DOLLAR (NZD), which are the necessary attributes of the coin issuer. This is the Pacific Island of Niue, which provides the Czech Mint with a foreign license to mint its own commemorative coins.

Mercury has its place in an spectacular collector´s album that is full of interesting facts about the universe and its conquerors and which you can also find in the offer of the Czech Mint.