20 Cents - Elizabeth II 3rd portrait, Pukaki, Silver Piedfort

Pūkaki was one of four tuatara released at Nga Manu Nature Reserve in Waikanae in the early 1990s as part of a captive breeding programme aimed at reversing population collapse on the mainland. His selection for this coin made the piedfort a quiet record of conservation politics as much as numismatics — New Zealand was actively legislating stronger protections for tuatara through this period.

The piedfort format, struck at twice the standard thickness, was a deliberate premium collectible decision by the Reserve Bank, issued alongside the standard proof. Mintages for New Zealand piedforts of this era were typically very small, often under 1,000 pieces.