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1 Dollar - Elizabeth II Honoré de Balzac and Ewelina Hańska
| Issuer | Niue |
|---|---|
| Year | 2015 |
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| Currency | Dollar of New Zealand (1987-date) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | Central paired portrait of the French novelist Honoré de Balzac and the Polish noblewoman Ewelina Hańska, rendered in a romantic vignette style within the oval field. The two figures are depicted in period costume facing one another, surrounded by an ornate floral and foliate rim framing the composition. The names 'Honoré de Balzac' and 'Ewelina Hańska' are inscribed within the design, identifying the subjects. |
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| Additional information |
Niue's practice of licensing its sovereign coinage authority to third-party minting programs has produced some genuinely odd pairings, and this one qualifies. Balzac and Ewelina Hańska conducted a correspondence-heavy romance spanning nearly two decades before marrying in March 1850 — five months before Balzac died. The relationship was conducted largely by letter while Hańska remained on her Ukrainian estate, legally unable to remarry until her first husband's death in 1841.
Niue itself has no meaningful connection to either figure. The coin exists because Polish collector markets respond well to Romantic-era literary subjects, and Niue's mint licensing arrangement makes such issues commercially straightforward to produce.