1 Dollar - Elizabeth II 2nd Portrait, Coinage Anniversary, Silver Proof

The 1983 New Zealand dollar commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of New Zealand's distinct coinage — the country having issued its first independent series in 1933, prior to which British and Australian coins circulated alongside locally produced pieces. The proof version in sterling silver was struck for collector distribution, the Reserve Bank having established a pattern by the early 1980s of issuing commemorative silver proofs alongside base-metal circulation strikes for significant anniversaries.

Machin's second portrait of Elizabeth II, introduced on New Zealand coinage in 1966, appears here in its final years of use on the dollar — the third Maklouf effigy would replace it before the decade was out.