This kilogram gold piece is one of a small number of ultra-high-denomination issues Niue has produced in collaboration with the New Zealand Mint, leveraging its status as a Cook Islands-adjacent Pacific territory with its own ISO currency code to issue face-value coins that exist purely as collector vehicles. The $6,000 NZD denomination is nominal — Niue's GDP would not absorb a single piece at face value.
John Paul II died in April 2005 after 26 years as pope, the third-longest pontificate in modern history. This issue appeared a decade after his death, the same year of his canonization's first anniversary.
This kilogram gold piece is one of a small number of ultra-high-denomination issues Niue has produced in collaboration with the New Zealand Mint, leveraging its status as a Cook Islands-adjacent Pacific territory with its own ISO currency code to issue face-value coins that exist purely as collector vehicles. The $6,000 NZD denomination is nominal — Niue's GDP would not absorb a single piece at face value.
John Paul II died in April 2005 after 26 years as pope, the third-longest pontificate in modern history. This issue appeared a decade after his death, the same year of his canonization's first anniversary.