Bank of Ukraine celebrates the joys of the wheel of life with an unusual new coin

Producers of some quite beautiful coins, the Bank of Ukraine is most well known to collectors for its Archangel Michael silver bullion coin and its quirky lunar range. We recently covered what we consider an outstanding series called Fauna in Cultural Monuments and this new coin is similar in style to those. The subject matter this time around is the wheel of life.

The reverse face depicts the proverbial wheel of life, the spokes of which are formed from a stylistic representation of a man and a woman. All of this is picked out with gilding against a clean proof background. The inscription ‘WHEEL OF LIFE’ in Ukrainian surrounds the gilded artwork. The obverse is meant to symbolise the path to light and it does so by depicting a road running through hills and valleys towwards a coloured sun in the background. Clever in concept and attractive in execution, even the few inscriptions here are placed well and not scattered all over the design as a bureauocrat is likely to do to an artists work in many cases.

The coin should come boxed with a certificate of authenticity and it’s likely that the auction site will be your best option to pick one up outside of the Ukraine. Mintage of this one-ounce sterling silver coin is capped at 4,000.

2017 UKRAINE WHEEL OF TIME PROOF SILVER COIN

MINTS DESCRIPTION

On the obverse of the coin, on a mirrored background, is a road that runs through hills, valleys and fields and goes to the sun (gilded), which symbolizes the path to light, the road to the future. At the bottom there is: the Small State Emblem of Ukraine (left), the year of issue of the coin 2017 (on the right), the semicircular inscriptions: UKRAINE, face value – 10 / ГРИВЕНЬ.

On the reverse of the coin, on a mirror background, a stylized wheel is depicted, the lunch of which consists of fragments that resemble in part the shape of the wooden wheel of a Chicago car, the pair of spikes of the wheel have a pair – the Man and Woman, which are the core of the movement, the “perpetual motion” of human existence. In the circle there are inscriptions: WHEEL OF LIFE.

Dedicated to the discovery in the artistic manner of the philosophical content of the fundamental principles of human existence – the desire for love, happiness and harmony, knowledge of the nature of good and evil, the search for the meaning of being and the unique way of man in the boundless world.

SPECIFICATION

NAME 2017 THE WHEEL OF LIFE
DENOMINATION 10 Hryvnia
COMPOSITION 0.925 silver
WEIGHT 31.1 grams
DIAMETER 38.60 mm
FINISH Proof
MODIFICATIONS Selective gilding
MINTAGE 4,000
BOX / COA Yes / Yes
NATIONAL BANK OF UKRAINE