1 Dollar - Charles III 1st Portrait - Gandalf and Aragorn, Silver Proof

Part of New Zealand's ongoing licensed partnership with the Tolkien estate and Warner Bros., this issue appeared in 2023 alongside several companion pieces drawing on the Peter Jackson film adaptations rather than the source novels. The obverse carries the first portrait of Charles III by Dominic Endricht, making this among the earliest New Zealand coinage to reflect the accession following Elizabeth II's death in September 2022.

The selective gold plating on a .999 fine silver substrate is a finishing technique that has become almost reflexively standard for this category of licensed pop-culture bullion, applied here to distinguish the two characters.