5 Dollars The Creation of Adam (1 of 12)

Part of a twelve-coin series reproducing Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling in sectional format, this issue was produced for Niue by the New Zealand Mint under a licensing arrangement that has become one of the more commercially active arms of Niuean commemorative coinage. The ceiling itself took Michelangelo four years to complete, from 1508 to 1512, working largely alone despite Pope Julius II's repeated demands for an accelerated schedule.

The series was engineered so that all twelve coins tile together into a single composite image — a format borrowed from earlier European collector issues but executed here at a scale and silver weight that made completing the set a significant financial commitment.