- Mintage Limit - 5000
- Coin with Colour Printed
- Coin in capsule+with Certificate of Authenticity + Presentation Case
In the Chinese calendar the year 2013 is known as the year of the snake. The snake is one of the oldest and most widespread mythological symbols. In Chinese horoscope the snake is strongly related with cleverness and knowledge. The snake coins depict the yin and yang image, which symbolizes two opposite yet complementary basic forces. Together the snake coins form a cohesive whole, a circle.
The snake coins depict the yin and yang image, which symbolizes two opposite yet complementary basic forces. According to Chinese philosophy, the entirety of the world is formed in a process of continual change with the alternating dominance of the opposing forces. Together the snake coins form a cohesive whole, a circle. The Raphael Maklouf effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the 2012 year-date and the monetary denomination are shown on the obverse of each coin.
Yin and Yang
The most well-known of Taoist visual symbols is the Yin-Yang symbol, also known as the Taiji symbol. The image consists of a circle divided into two teardrop-shaped halves one white and the other black. Within each half is contained a smaller circle of the opposite color.
In terms of Taoist cosmology, the circle represents Tao - the undifferentiated Unity out of which all of existence arises. The black and white halves within the circle represent Yin-qi and Yang-qi - the primordial feminine and masculine energies whose interplay gives birth to the manifest world: to the Five Elements and Ten-Thousand Things.
The curves and circles of the Yin-Yang symbol imply a kaleidoscope-like movement. This implied movement represents the ways in which Yin and Yang are mutually-arising, interdependent, and continuously transforming, one into the other. One could not exist without the other, for each contains the essence of the other. Night becomes day, and day becomes night. Birth becomes death, and death becomes birth (think: composting). Friends become enemies, and enemies become friends. Such is the nature - Taoism teaches - of everything in the relative world.
According to the Chinese Zodiac, the Year of 2013 is the Year of the Snake. The Snake is the sixth sign of the Chinese Zodiac, which consists of 12 animals signs. In Chinese horoscope the snake is strongly related with cleverness and knowledge. Most snake people are perhaps the wisest of all Chinese horoscope signs and a year of the snake brings often great discoveries and helpful inventions.