The New Zealand Mint operates as a private mint — it holds no governmental minting mandate and strikes legal tender coins under licensing agreements with small sovereign issuers, in this case Niue. The rooster series belongs to the Chinese Lunar calendar cycle, a format the New Zealand Mint has aggressively pursued since the mid-2000s to capture the Asian collector market. Mintages on these issues are typically capped and sold directly to distributors, meaning most examples never approach circulation.
The New Zealand Mint operates as a private mint — it holds no governmental minting mandate and strikes legal tender coins under licensing agreements with small sovereign issuers, in this case Niue. The rooster series belongs to the Chinese Lunar calendar cycle, a format the New Zealand Mint has aggressively pursued since the mid-2000s to capture the Asian collector market. Mintages on these issues are typically capped and sold directly to distributors, meaning most examples never approach circulation.