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!
50 Cents - Elizabeth II Windowsill Orchid
| Issuer | Government of the Cook Islands |
|---|---|
| Year | 2003 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Cents |
| 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 | Right-facing effigy of Queen Elizabeth II wearing the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara, with a pearl drop earring and pearl necklace visible. The portrait, in the style associated with the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy, is rendered in high relief against a mirror-polished field. The legend ELIZABETH II is inscribed to the left and COOK ISLANDS to the right, divided by the portrait. The date 2003 appears in the lower exergue, with a beaded border encircling the design. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | 2003 - Proof - 30,000 |
| Additional information |
Cook Islands flooded the collector market throughout the 1990s and 2000s with an enormous volume of themed commemorative issues — flora, fauna, historical figures, ships — largely produced by foreign minting contractors and sold directly to dealers rather than circulated domestically. This orchid piece is squarely part of that wave. The KM# 1025 assignment places it deep in a catalog sequence that by this point numbered in the hundreds for a territory whose actual circulating coinage needs are minimal.
Demand was wholesale, not retail. Most examples went straight into collector sets.