Croatia honors basketball legend with five new coins

Croatia is honoring the life of the late basketball legend Dražen Petrovic with five Proof coins, three in silver and two in gold.

All images courtesy of the Croatian National Bank.

Sixty years after his birth, European basketball legend Dražen Petrovic is the subject of five new Proof coins from Croatia.

The Croatian National Bank was set to release on Sept. 5 three silver and two gold coins celebrating the life of the former National Basketball Association player.

The Croatian National Bank called him “one of the greatest Croatian, European and world basketball players, [who] left a very significant mark in world basketball.”

A shooting guard, he initially achieved success playing professional basketball in Europe in the 1980s with Cibona and Real Madrid before joining the NBA in 1989.

Born Oct. 22, 1964, his life tragically ended in a June 7, 1993, car crash when he was 28 years old. The coins help commemorate the 60th anniversary of his birth.

All five coins share a similar design by sculptor Nikola Vudrag, differing only in the denomination texts.

The obverse of the coins feature Dražen in action, shooting a basketball, and the reverse shows a ball going through a basketball hoop.

The coins are offered by the Croatian Mint, and pricing will be set closer to the release date, based on the metals market.

Specifications, mintages

The three Proof .9999 fine silver coins are denominated €4, €6 and €8.

The €4 coin weighs 31.103 grams and measures 38.61 millimeters in diameter. Its mintage limit is 4,000 pieces, and a price around €80 is expected.

The €6 coin weighs 2.207 grams and measures 45 millimeters in diameter. Its mintage limit is 2,000 pieces, at a price expected to be around €160 each.

The €8 coin weighs 155.518 grams and measures 60 millimeters in diameter. Its  mintage of 1,000 pieces is expected to retail around €400 each.

The two gold coins are Proof  strikes,  .9999 fine gold €100 and €200 coins.

The €100 coin weighs 31.103 grams and measures 32.2 millimeters in diameter. Its mintage limit is 500 pieces priced at “around €2,950” each, or about $3,270 U.S.

The €200 coin weighs 100 grams and measures 45 millimeters in diameter. It has a mintage limit of 60 pieces and retails for “around €9,950” according to the bank, or approximately $11,030 U.S.

To order, or learn more, visit the Croatian Mint website, https://croatianmint.hr/.

A Proof 1-ounce .9999 fine gold €100 coin celebrating the life of the late NBA player Dražen Petrovic has a mintage limit of 500 pieces.

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