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 Dollars - Elizabeth II Bowhead Whale
| Issuer | Cook Islands |
|---|---|
| Year | 2021 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Dollars |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| 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 | At center, a raised inner circle frames the diademed effigy of Queen Elizabeth II facing right, engraved by Ian Rank-Broadley whose initials IRB appear below the truncation. Surrounding the central portrait medallion, the broader field is richly sculpted in high relief with a naturalistic bald eagle nest scene: an adult eagle perches at left atop a large nest set among bare branches, while a second adult eagle descends in flight from upper right carrying a fish in its talons. The legend ELIZABETH II arcs along the left, 5 DOLLARS along the top, and COOK ISLANDS along the right of the inner circle, with the date 2021 at the base. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Latin |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Cook Islands has operated one of the most prolific licensed bullion and commemorative programs in the Pacific, issuing coins struck at mints across Europe and North America under arrangements that have little to do with the island's own monetary infrastructure. This piece is part of that framework — legal tender by designation, collectible by design, circulated nowhere.
The bowhead whale holds a specific place in Arctic Indigenous subsistence rights law; the Iñupiat of northern Alaska retain federally recognized quotas under the International Whaling Commission, a carve-out that survived the 1986 commercial moratorium.