1 Dollar - Elizabeth II Angkor Wat

Cook Islands has issued commemorative dollars under Elizabeth II's effigy since the 1970s, leveraging its currency-issuing rights as a self-governing territory in free association with New Zealand. The Angkor Wat series falls squarely into the collector-targeted souvenir coinage that Pacific island nations began aggressively producing in the 1990s — struck in bulk by overseas mints, never intended for circulation, and distributed almost entirely through philatelic and numismatic retail channels. Silver-plated brass rather than actual silver signals the lower tier of this market.