50 Dollars - Elizabeth II William Shakespeare

This coin was issued to mark the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, falling in 2014 — a year that saw commemorative editions from mints worldwide, though few at this weight and dimension. The Cook Islands has operated a prolific commemorative program through the New Zealand Mint since the 1970s, producing legal tender issues largely intended for the collector market rather than circulation. The two embedded diamonds here are almost certainly positioned as decorative elements within the design field, a technique the New Zealand Mint refined across several high-value issues in this period.