The fifth silver coin of the Czech Mint's Mythological characters series features the feared troll.

Ancient trolls live in the mountains far from human dwellings. They are big and strong, but slow and lacking in wit. These grotesque creatures only emerge from their hiding places after dark. If the sun's rays hit them, they turn to stone. They are not evil, but it is better to avoid them - they like human treasures and consider meat to be their greatest delicacy... Do the tales of trolls, which originate from Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore, have any real basis? It's quite possible that they were actually Neanderthals. Tens of thousands of years ago, these prehistoric people lost the evolutionary battle with modern man, were pushed into unknown regions and eventually became extinct. Or did they? If the massive, muscular creatures with prominent noses, supraorbital arches and flat foreheads survived and hid in the remote reaches of Scandinavia, their descendants may have been mistaken for supernatural creatures. Neanderthals are known to have seen very well at night, which would suggest why the mythical trolls did not appear in daylight. And their fossils? It's likely that pareidolia - the psychological phenomenon that makes us see human features in inanimate objects - is to blame. It takes little imagination to turn an ordinary rock into a figure or a face...

The reverse side of the coin, which is the work of the medal maker Roman Šamiljan, presents a troll with a not very bright expression and stone skin. As the licence to issue commemorative coins of the Czech Mint is granted by the Pacific island of Niue, the obverse side bears its national emblem, the nominal value of 2 DOLLARS (NZD) and the year of issue 2025. These necessary attributes are surrounded by the elemental nature - rocks, clouds, trees and waves. The details of the relief are accentuated by the patina.

You can store the complete 12-piece coin collection featuring characters from the realms of myth, legend and fantasy in a collector's album that you can also find in our range.