2 Dollars - Elizabeth II 3rd portrait

Cook Islands shifted to a new effigy of Elizabeth II in the late 1980s as part of a broader Commonwealth-wide update coordinated following the Raphael Maklouf portrait's introduction in 1985. The islands had achieved self-governance in free association with New Zealand in 1965, and their coinage program — managed largely through the New Zealand Treasury — followed Commonwealth portrait conventions closely rather than setting independent precedent.

The seven-year production window for KM#38 reflects steady but modest circulation demand from a population that has never exceeded 20,000.