1 Dollar - Elizabeth II 4th Portrait, Victoria Half Sovereign

This issue commemorates the 150th anniversary of New Zealand's adoption of the gold sovereign as legal tender, struck in the same 22-carat alloy used by the Royal Mint for sovereigns continuously since 1817. The half sovereign format was effectively retired from circulation after World War I, when Britain suspended gold coinage convertibility and never fully restored it for smaller denominations.

The Victorian-era original this piece references circulated in New Zealand at a time when the colony had no mint of its own, relying entirely on British and Australian-struck sovereigns for gold transactions.