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Features of Ukrainian coins

The NBU finishes commemorative coins with a range of techniques: colour pad printing, selective gilding, patination, holograms and gemstone inlays. Here you will find a selection of coins for each feature — based on the NBU’s official descriptions, with mintages and current prices.

  • Coloured coins of Ukraine

    135 entries

    On coloured coins part of the design is rendered in colour. Most often the NBU uses pad printing: ink is transferred onto the coin by a flexible silicone pad, which makes it possible to apply colour precisely even over relief. Colour printing and enamel are used less often.

  • Gilded coins of Ukraine

    65 entries

    Selective gilding is a thin layer of gold applied not to the whole coin but to individual design elements: inscriptions, ornaments, details of the composition. It gives the coin accents that stand out against a mirror or matte field.

  • Patinated coins of Ukraine

    29 entries

    Patination is a finishing technique that artificially darkens the relief of a coin. The dark layer stays in the recesses while the raised details remain bright, so the design gains contrast and depth and the coin takes on an antique look.

  • Ukrainian coins with holograms

    20 entries

    A holographic image on a coin is created by micro-relief: as the coin is tilted, light is diffracted and the design shimmers in different colours. As a rule, the element comes from a specially treated die, so the hologram is struck together with the coin rather than printed on it.

  • Ukrainian coins with gemstone inlays

    15 entries

    Some Ukrainian coins are decorated with inlays: cubic zirconia and, on certain issues, genuine gemstones — diamonds, sapphires, rubies and topaz. The inlay highlights a key detail of the design, such as an animal’s eye in the Chinese calendar series or the adornments of an icon.

  • Square and unusual-shaped coins of Ukraine

    18 entries

    Most coins are round, but the NBU also issues coins of unusual shapes: square (“Digital State”, “Pectoral”, the “Cossack Regalia” set), hexagonal (the set for the 100th anniversary of the National Academy of Sciences: “Era of Technologies”, “Era of Changes”, “Era of Peace”, “Human, Time, Space”), egg-shaped like a pysanka (“Easter Joy. Pysanka”), bell-shaped (the “Shchedryk – Carol of the Bells” set) and oval (the “Mariinskyi Palace” medal). There are also concave coins whose surface is dished like a bowl: “Bohdan Khmelnytskyi”, “St Nicholas Church”, “Kosiv Painting”.

A coin can appear in several selections — for example, it can be both coloured and gilded.