1 Dollar - Elizabeth II King Richard II

Cook Islands has issued commemorative dollars under its currency agreement with New Zealand since the 1970s, and by 2010 the program had expanded into an enormous range of gold-plated base-metal issues targeting the collector market rather than circulation. Richard II — deposed in 1399 after Parliament accepted his forced abdication, almost certainly murdered at Pontefract Castle shortly after — is an unusual subject for Pacific commemorative coinage, his selection driven by licensing and series packaging rather than any historical connection to the issuing territory.