5 Dollars - Elizabeth II Hummingbird

Cook Islands has issued commemorative silver in extraordinary volume since the 1970s, much of it through licensing arrangements with private minting companies — meaning many pieces bearing the Cook Islands name were designed, struck, and marketed with virtually no involvement from the islands themselves. This hummingbird issue falls squarely into that category, produced under one of several ongoing agreements that use Cook Islands' authority as a legal tender vehicle for the international collector market.

The Ruby-throated Hummingbird beats its wings roughly 53 times per second — a fact that has made the species a recurring subject for colored enamel and selective gilding techniques that private mints favor for exactly this type of release.