10 Dollars - Elizabeth II Hawksbill Turtle

Niue's arrangement with the New Zealand Mint has made it one of the most prolific bullion-issuing territories in the Pacific, despite having a population under 2,000 and no meaningful domestic coin circulation. The Hawksbill Turtle series ran across nearly a decade, with each annual release carrying identical specifications while the secondary market treated earlier dates as premiums over spot — a pattern that reversed sharply when the series was discontinued.

The hawksbill itself is a CITES Appendix I species, meaning international commercial trade in the animal is banned under the 1973 Washington Convention. The irony of a legally protected creature anchoring a long-running commercial bullion program was not lost on collectors.