1 Dollar - Elizabeth II Diplodocus

The Cook Islands has issued commemorative coinage under licensing arrangements for decades, with the actual striking typically contracted to the Pobjoy Mint or similar private minters rather than any facility on the islands themselves — Cook Islands has no mint. This particular dinosaur series was part of a broader wave of gold-plated copper issues targeting the collector novelty market in the early 2010s, a format that generated significant revenue for the issuing authority while carrying essentially no monetary function.

Diplodocus itself was formally described in 1878 from Morrison Formation material collected in Colorado.