The history of gold is the history of mankind. For thousands of years, the "yellow metal" has enabled people to build and tear down empires and follow their dreams. The ancient Egyptians knew this, and the first gold coin from the thematic cycle of the Czech Mint is dedicated to them.

The ancient Egyptians believed that the bodies of the gods were made of gold. They mined this divine matter, which in their eyes symbolised eternity, in rich deposits, worshipped it and created breathtaking objects from it. They perfected the craft of goldsmithing. "The details of the room slowly emerged from the mist... Strange animals, statues and gold - gold glittered everywhere, " Howard Carter recalled the moment he peered inside Tutankhamun's tomb candle in hand. The pharaoh was buried there in a gold coffin, and the gold sheet mask that covered his face became the most famous Egyptological discovery of all time. In reality, Tutankhamun was an insignificant ruler who was not particularly powerful or wealthy. If his treasure amazes us, how unimaginable must have been the wealth of the likes of Ramesses II, one of the greatest rulers of the empire? We will probably never know, for most of Egypt's tombs have been looted. However, the Egyptian economy, where gold substituted the role of currency, offers a clue. The vast resources spent to provide for the afterlife of the pharaohs, while stifling it mercilessly, protected it from inflation. In fact, thanks to royal burials, gold was stored in tombs, keeping the amount of gold in circulation at a constant level. But as soon as the greedy pharaohs began to plunder the tombs of their predecessors, such a huge amount of gold entered circulation that the whole country collapsed economically. Egypt ceased to be a great power and never regained its glory...

Medal maker Mgr. Art Miroslav Hric, ArtD., dedicated the reverse side of the coin to a rich ancient Egyptian collage. It is dominated by the Pharaoh's death mask supplemented with objects of the funeral ritual - a statue of the god Horus, a scarab amulet and a gold bracelet. The scene in the background represents the transition to the afterlife and the circle is filled with Egyptian decoration. The obverse side, which is common to the entire coin cycle, presents gold artefacts from various ancient civilisations - Greeks, Aztecs, Sumerians and Egyptians. As the coins of the Czech Mint are issued with the foreign licence of the island of Niue, they also bear its national emblem, the nominal value of 25 DOLLARS (NZD) and the year of issue 2025 on the obverse side.

The mintage is only 100 pieces, with each piece numbered on the edge.