5 Dollars - Elizabeth II The Lady of the Lake

The Lady of the Lake is one of the more awkward figures in Arthurian tradition to pin down — she has no single origin, her name varies across sources, and she appears in both helpful and antagonistic roles depending on the manuscript. Cook Islands leaned heavily into this ambiguity with its 2009 fantasy-themed bullion and collector series, which packaged medieval myth as Pacific-issued silver at a moment when the secondary market for themed numismatic silver was expanding rapidly among non-traditional collectors.

Cook Islands has used its currency-issuing rights since the 1970s to produce coins primarily for the international collector market rather than domestic circulation.