Cook Islands has issued commemorative dollars under Royal Australian Mint and various private licensing arrangements since the 1970s, and this piece falls squarely within that cottage industry of Pacific island legal tender — technically valid currency for a territory whose residents would never spend it. Diana's death in August 1997 triggered an industrial-scale memorial coin program across Commonwealth and associated territories that ran for well over a decade.
Cook Islands has issued commemorative dollars under Royal Australian Mint and various private licensing arrangements since the 1970s, and this piece falls squarely within that cottage industry of Pacific island legal tender — technically valid currency for a territory whose residents would never spend it. Diana's death in August 1997 triggered an industrial-scale memorial coin program across Commonwealth and associated territories that ran for well over a decade.