1 Dollar - Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth I

Cook Islands has issued commemorative dollars under royal warrant since the early 1970s, leveraging its status as a self-governing territory in free association with New Zealand to produce coins primarily aimed at the collector market rather than circulation. The gold-plated copper-nickel construction places this firmly in that category — a format driven by licensing economics, not monetary need.

Elizabeth I died in 1603 without naming a successor until her final hours, ending the Tudor dynasty outright.