1 Dollar - Elizabeth II Nelson and Ships

Issued as part of Cook Islands' long-running commemorative dollar program, this piece marks the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar's aftermath — specifically the period following Nelson's death in October 1805, when his body was transported back to England preserved in a barrel of brandy (or spirits of wine, by most accounts). The British public's reaction to both the victory and the loss shaped naval commemoration for the entire nineteenth century.

Cook Islands became a prolific issuer of themed copper-nickel dollars from the 1970s onward, partly as a revenue mechanism through collector sales rather than circulation.