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50 Dollars - Elizabeth II Leif Ericson
| Issuer | Cook Islands |
|---|---|
| Year | 1997 |
| Type | Non-circulating coin |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | LEIF ERICSON $50 14 KT |
| Edge | Reeded |
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| Additional information |
Cook Islands issued a wave of commemorative gold pieces through the 1990s under licensing arrangements that had little to do with the islands themselves — this Leif Ericson piece being a clear example. The .5833 fineness is atypical for modern commemoratives, which almost universally use .999 or .9999 gold, and suggests this was produced to a specific fractional gold weight target rather than a purity standard.
Leif Ericson's landfall circa 1000 AD — almost certainly at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, confirmed archaeologically in the 1960s — predates Columbus by roughly five centuries, a fact that gave this subject commercial traction across Scandinavian-American collector markets throughout the late 1990s.