1 Dollar - Elizabeth II Year of the Snake

Niue has operated as a prolific bullion and commemorative issuer since the 1990s, licensing its sovereign mint authority to third-party producers — primarily the New Zealand Mint — who market themed series internationally. The Year of the Snake dollar belongs to a long-running Chinese Lunar calendar program aimed squarely at the collector and gift market across East and Southeast Asia.

The snake is the sixth animal in the twelve-year cycle, and 2013 marked the Year of the Water Snake specifically — a subcategory within the traditional Chinese sexagenary system that combines the twelve animals with five elemental phases on a sixty-year rotation.