2019 - Niue 10 NZD Gold Coin Path to Freedom - Velvet Revolution - Proof

Path to Freedom

The Czech Mint has dedicated the gold coins to Palach's Week, Karel Kryl and the petition Několik vět translated as Several Sentences. The Velvet Revolution appears in the mini-series entitled Path to Freedom.

Jan Opletal was a medical student, who participated in the largest anti-Nazi demonstration in occupied Europe in 1939 and was mortally wounded. The horrors of the Nazi regime ceased after fifty years, but Czechoslovakia was still not free. When university students met in Prague on November 17, 1989 to honor Opletal's memory, they certainly did not know that they had contributed to the end of the totalitarian regime. The initially peaceful assembly turned into an anti-communist demonstration. The brutal Public Security intervention against defenceless young people aroused the whole society which decided to say no. The sequence of events between November 17 and December 29, which led to the fall of the Iron Curtain and allowed the Czechoslovaks to decide freely about their future, is called as a "Velvet Revolution" because of its non-violent nature.

This coin was processed by the medal maker Vojtěch Dostál, DiS. The reverse side is dominated by two raised fingers forming a victorious V-sign, which means a gesture that is linked to the Velvet Revolution, and above all to Václav Havel. In addition to the silhouette of Prague Castle, the inscription VELVET REVOLUTION and the date of 17. 11. 1989, the composition of the reverse side is supplemented by the originally written revolutionary slogan "WHEN, IF NOT NOW?" WHO, IF NOT US? ”. The obverse side, which is common to all coins from the mini-series, was dedicated to St. Wenceslas, a symbol of patriotism and continuity of our statehood. The key moments of anti-communist protests took place under his statue. Coins of the Czech Mint are issued with the license of a foreign publisher, the island of Niue, therefore, their obverse side bears its necessary attributes, which means the portrait and the name of Queen Elizabeth II., the nominal value of 10 DOLLARS (NZD) and the year of the issue 2019.

Remember that a complete four-piece gold coin collection can be stored in a wooden collector's etui.