Catalog
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| Issuer | Niue |
|---|---|
| Year | 2015 |
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| Thickness | 2.53 mm |
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| Obverse description | Right-facing crowned effigy of Queen Elizabeth II after the third portrait by Raphael David Maklouf, depicting the Queen wearing the George IV State Diadem, a drop earring, and a pearl necklace. The legend ELIZABETH II is inscribed along the left periphery, NIUE along the upper right, 2 DOLLARS along the right, and the date 2015 at the bottom, all separated by raised dot stops. The highly polished proof field provides a deeply mirrored background contrasting with the finely detailed sculptural bust. |
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Niue has operated as a prolific licensing issuer since the 1990s, contracting private mints — primarily the New Zealand Mint and Perth Mint — to produce collector coins sold entirely outside its domestic economy. The Washington Monument series falls squarely in that commercial program: legal tender denominated in New Zealand dollars by treaty arrangement, but never intended to circulate on the island's roughly 1,600-person population.
The monument itself was under construction for 36 years, halted for nearly two decades by funding failures and the Civil War before resuming in 1876 with stone from a different Maryland quarry — which is why a faint color change band is still visible roughly a third of the way up the obelisk.