1 Dollar - Elizabeth II Duke of Wellington

The Duke of Wellington connection to Cook Islands coinage is purely commercial — the Pacific microstate has issued licensed commemoratives under its authority since the 1970s, functioning essentially as a mint client rather than an issuing sovereign in any meaningful monetary sense. This piece belongs to a broad category of gold-plated copper collector issues produced in bulk for the novelty market, most of which never approach the Cook Islands at any point in their existence.