New Zealand's kiwi dollar series has long occupied a peculiar position — technically legal tender, never intended for circulation, struck almost entirely for the collector market. The 2009 issue appeared during a period when the Reserve Bank was actively expanding its numismatic program, partly to offset revenue pressures following the 2008 financial crisis. Ian Rank-Broadley's fourth portrait of Elizabeth II, adopted by New Zealand in 1999, appears here in one of its later years before the fifth portrait by Jody Clark replaced it across Commonwealth coinage from 2015.
New Zealand's kiwi dollar series has long occupied a peculiar position — technically legal tender, never intended for circulation, struck almost entirely for the collector market. The 2009 issue appeared during a period when the Reserve Bank was actively expanding its numismatic program, partly to offset revenue pressures following the 2008 financial crisis. Ian Rank-Broadley's fourth portrait of Elizabeth II, adopted by New Zealand in 1999, appears here in one of its later years before the fifth portrait by Jody Clark replaced it across Commonwealth coinage from 2015.