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5 Dollars - Elizabeth II Marco Polo
| Issuer | New Zealand Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 2015 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Dollars |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | Highly detailed scene depicting Marco Polo's audience at the court of Kublai Khan. In the foreground, a robed Marco Polo kneels in supplication before the reclining, armoured figure of the Great Khan, who is attended by a low table bearing vessels and wares. Behind them stands a mounted armed guard before a Chinese palatial gateway with tiled rooftops; additional courtiers and attendants are visible in the middle ground to the right, while a dragon motif decorates the left border and ornamental scrollwork frames both sides. The legend MARCO POLO appears on a scroll-shaped ribbon at the top of the design, and the inscription 2 oz 999 FINE SILVER is engraved along the lower border within a decorative cartouche. |
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| Additional information |
The New Zealand Mint, despite its name, is a private facility in Auckland with no role in producing New Zealand's circulating coinage — that responsibility belongs to the Royal Mint under contract. It operates entirely in the collector and bullion market, licensing sovereign issuers for legal tender status on commemorative pieces. This Marco Polo issue carries Cook Islands authorization, a common arrangement the Auckland mint uses to attach nominal face values to silver rounds.
Marco Polo's account of Kublai Khan's paper money system — described in Il Milione — remains one of the earliest European records of fiat currency backed by state enforcement rather than intrinsic metal value.