2020 - Niue 2 NZD Silver Coin On Waves - Fernăo de Magalhăes - Proof

On Waves

The Czech Mint commemorates the second naval captain Fernão de Magalhães on the silver coin from the series entitled On Waves.

The Portuguese nobleman Fernão de Magalhães served his homeland for many years. He fought in India and Africa. He longed for voyages, but his disobedient and adventurous nature did not meet with understanding. The frustrated sailor renounced his nation when the King of Portugal repeatedly rejected Magalhães' suggestion to go to the rich sources of exotic spice. He offered his services to a country with which Portugal shared the Iberian Peninsula and competed for rule of the world… European sailors who wanted to reach Asian waters had to sail around the southern Africa and to the east, but the Portuguese controlled this route. Therefore, Magalhães suggested to the King of Spain that he would go west and reach Asia from the east. Such an act has never happened before. At the end of the 15th century, the view was that the earth was flat, and if somebody claimed it was round, he or she was burned to death. Yet the king, attracted by the prospect of a wealth of precious spices, agreed… A fleet of five Spanish ships embarked on a journey around the world in 1519. Magalhães faced storms, revolts, accidents, months without food and Water. He was eventually murdered by the Philippine natives… The only Magalhães ship called Victoria returned home in 1522, and Spain saw only 18 of the 270 sailors. Magalhães did not live to see the triumph of human determination, but his name will live forever…

The reverse side of the coin is dominated by Magalhães' portrait, supplemented with the captain's name and life years. “The portrait of the mariner from the right profile is reconstructed according to the contemporary picture. On the right side there is the ship Victoria, the only one of Magalhães´ ships that sailed around the globe. Its name appears on the left side of the lettering tape around the globe, ” says the academic sculptor and the author of the relief Michal Vitanovský. Since the Czech Mint coins are issued with the license of the Island of Niue, their obverse sides bear the necessary attributes of this issuer. The attributes are the portrait and the name of Queen Elizabeth II, the nominal value of 2 DOLLARS (NZD) and the year of the issue 2020. The composition of the obverse side is common to all coins from the miniset and it is supplemented with depiction of a sailboat as a symbol of overseas discoveries.

The coin is placed in an attractive packaging containing the original drawings by Michal Vitanovský, together with a story about world-wide voyage of Captain Magalhães.