Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Dollar - Elizabeth II Hello Kitty
| Issuer | Tuvalu |
|---|---|
| Year | 2006 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Dollar (1976-date) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Gold-plated right-facing effigy of Queen Elizabeth II wearing the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara, as designed by Raphael David Maklouf, set against a blackened field. The legend QUEEN ELIZABETH II arcs along the upper periphery, while the inscriptions 1oz, 999, SILVER, TUVALU, and 2006 are distributed around the lower portion of the field. The designer's initials RDM appear below the truncation of the bust. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central colored depiction of Hello Kitty in the foreground, rendered in white with a prominent red bow at the collar and a large red bow atop her head, set against a gold-plated openwork decorative background evoking a traditional Japanese motif. A second, smaller feline Sanrio character wearing red bows is depicted behind Hello Kitty toward the upper center of the design. Japanese katakana characters appear prominently in the upper field. The denomination $1 is inscribed at the bottom center, with the copyright notice '76,'06 SANRIO to the lower right. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Tuvalu's numismatic program has long operated as a revenue instrument for the Pacific microstate, whose population of roughly 10,000 generates almost no conventional export income. The Hello Kitty licensing arrangement with Sanrio reflects a broader trend in the early 2000s of Pacific island mints targeting the Japanese collector market specifically — Sanrio's character had by then accumulated an estimated $1 billion annually in licensed merchandise revenue, making numismatic tie-ins commercially obvious.
Gold-plated .999 silver strikes of this type were produced for the collector market, not circulation. Tuvalu has used the Australian dollar as its de facto currency since 1976.