The eleventh Mesozoic lizard to appear on the Czech Mint's silver coin from the Prehistoric World series is the plesiosaur.

Plesiosaurs were marine reptiles that evolved in parallel with the dinosaurs. They had broad, stocky bodies, short tails, long necks and two pairs of fins. The vertical movement of the limbs, which is not found in any modern aquatic animal and which resembled rowing underwater, allowed plesiosaurs not only to swim fast but also to stand still. They could grow up to 20 metres. Most of that length, however, was made up of a neck topped by a small flat head full of sharp teeth designed primarily to catch fish and cephalopods. Plesiosaurs were predators, but they still had many enemies - marine crocodiles, sharks and ichthyosaurs.

The reverse side of the coin was dedicated by the medal maker Petr Patka, DiS., to the depiction of a plesiosaur in vivid colours, which was achieved by using colouring technology. No photographs or computer graphics were used as a template - the author of the coin created an original painting. The embossed relief presents a Mesozoic sea. The composition of the reverse side is supplemented with the inscription PLESIOSAURUS. The obverse side of the coin, which is common to the entire cycle, bears a fossilised skeleton of a tyrannosaurus together with the English inscription PREHISTORIC WORLD. As the licence to issue the commemorative coins of the Czech Mint is granted by the Pacific island of Niue, the obverse side bears its necessary attributes - the national emblem, the nominal value of 1 DOLLAR (NZD) and the year of issue 2024.

You can save a coin dedicated to a marine reptile in a collector's album full of interesting facts about the life of giant lizards.