1 Dollar - Elizabeth II Queen wearing small crown

Cook Islands has issued commemorative dollar coinage under royal portrait authority since 1972, but the small-crown effigy used here is the Ian Rank-Broadley fourth portrait, introduced in 1998 and retired from most Commonwealth issues by 2015. Gold-plated steel strikes of this type were produced in volume for the collector and souvenir market, with actual gold content negligible — the plating is decorative rather than intrinsic.