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5 Dollars - Elizabeth II African Slender-Snouted Crocodile
| Issuer | Cook Islands |
|---|---|
| Year | 1996 |
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| Engraver(s) | Raphael David Maklouf |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A detailed relief depiction of an African Slender-Snouted Crocodile (Mecistops cataphractus) occupying the central field, rendered in naturalistic style with finely detailed scalation, its elongated narrow snout prominent to the left and its body curled slightly to the right. A background of stylised reeds and marsh vegetation occupies the upper field, while rippling water lines appear at the lower left. The curved legend 'ENDANGERED WILDLIFE' arcs along the upper rim, and the denomination '5 DOLLARS' is inscribed in the lower exergue. |
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| Edge | Reeded |
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| Additional information |
Part of a broader Cook Islands wildlife conservation series issued through the mid-1990s, these coins were produced under license arrangements typical of the period, with the Cook Islands government lending its authority to issues designed and distributed almost entirely by European marketing firms — primarily in Germany and Austria. The coins never circulated in the Cook Islands and were sold directly into the collector market.
The African slender-snouted crocodile (*Mecistops cataphractus*) was already a poorly understood species in 1996; its full taxonomic split from Central African populations wasn't confirmed until genetic studies published in 2018.