Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
5 Cents - Elizabeth II 2nd portrait, James Cook
| Issuer | Cook Islands |
|---|---|
| Year | 1978 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Round |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A finely detailed hibiscus flower in full bloom occupies the upper and central field, with prominent finely-lined petals and a projecting staminal column visible to the right. The stem curves downward and to the left, bearing two naturalistic leaves rendered in high relief. The large numeral 5 denoting the denomination is positioned in the lower central field, curving around the stem. The engraver's initials JB appear near the lower left of the design field. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Smooth with inscription |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The Cook Islands gained self-governing status in free association with New Zealand in 1965, and this issue belongs to the first decimal coinage series the islands produced following that constitutional change. The James Cook theme was a deliberate political choice — grounding the new nation's identity in the Pacific voyages of the 1770s rather than in the colonial administrative machinery that had governed the islands since 1901.
KM#3a distinguishes this from the earlier KM#3, which used a different alloy specification before the copper-nickel composition was standardized across the series.