1 Dollar - Elizabeth II Indian Gold Pagoda

The Indian gold pagoda was the primary trade coin of the Madras Presidency from the 16th century onward, issued first under the Vijayanagara Empire and later — somewhat awkwardly — continued by the East India Company, which struck its own pagodas until the type was officially demonetized in 1818. The Company's decision to replace pagodas with rupees was as much about administrative unification as it was about extinguishing a coinage that predated British authority entirely.

This Cook Islands issue belongs to a broader series replicating historic world coins in gold-plated silver, a format that has no pretense of circulation — Cook Islands dollar coinage has been a collector vehicle since the 1970s.