200 Dollars - Elizabeth II James Cook

Issued as part of a broader Pacific commemorative program that coincided with the bicentenary of Cook's death in Hawaii in February 1779, this piece was produced when the Cook Islands government was actively leveraging its nominal connection to the explorer's name for numismatic revenue. The islands bear his name almost by accident — Cook charted them but showed little interest in them, and they were actually named in his honor posthumously by Russian cartographers in the early 19th century.