The honeybee is a distinctive member of the Apidae family. In Slovakia, these bees are the only ones bred in hives, producing for us not only precious honey, but also pollen, beeswax, venom, royal jelly, and propolis used in medicine. Honeybees are also unique in that they survive the winter as a colony, maintaining a continuous life cycle. Hence in early spring they are already acting as important pollinators of agricultural crops and other vegetation. Bees must visit flowering plants in order to collect their two essential sources of nutrition: nectar, a sugar-rich source of the energy they need to fly and survive the winter; and pollen, a protein-rich substance that they use as nutrition during their stages of development. Bees are a social insect, notable for their division of labour, communal care of their young, and ability to survive unfavourable periods by thermoregulating the colony and building up stores. The coin design depicts what for humans is the most important activity of bees – pollination – and at the same time shows the bee as a symbol of diligence and industry.

Obverse:

The obverse of this euro collector coin depicts three bees on a honeycomb, the bottom right of which is overlain with the Slovak coat of arms. At the base of the design, inscribed in cursive script, are the name of the issuing country ‘SLOVENSKO’ and the year of issuance ‘2021’, one above the other. Between the image and the country name are the mint mark of the Kremnica Mint (Mincovňa Kremnica), consisting of the letters ‘MK’ placed between two dies, and the stylised letters ‘KL’, referring to the coin’s designer ‘Karol Ličko’.

Reverse:

The reverse image consists of two flowers with a honeybee sitting on the larger of them. At the top of the design, shown in cursive script one above the other, are the coin’s denomination ‘5’ and currency ‘EURO’. The inscription ‘Včela medonosná’ (Honeybee) appears in semicircle at the bottom.