2 Dollars - Elizabeth II Japanese Aster

Cook Islands has issued commemorative silver under its own authority since the early 1970s, a function of its self-governing status in free association with New Zealand. The Japanese Aster belongs to a long-running series of botanically themed issues produced for the collector market, minted under contract rather than for domestic circulation — Cook Islands' actual circulating coinage is negligible, and pieces like this one are struck expressly for international distribution through numismatic channels.