| Coin | Five Dollars Gold 2012 Fabergé - Coronation Egg |
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Niue, a sovereign state in free association with New Zealand, uses two official legal tender currencies. The New Zealand Dollar is the circulation currency for daily transactions, while the government also authorises legal tender coins in the Niue Dollar currency for collector's purposes.
A number of mints issue a large variety of commemorative and collector coins under the authority of Niue. These coins are dedicated to historical or general popular culture themes not related to Niue itself. Many of them are in bullion sizes based on the troy ounce - such as a fifth-ounce of gold (abbreviated as 1/5 oz Au, where "Au" comes from the Latin word for gold, Aurum), or similar.
This coin is the first in a series dedicated to the famous Fabergé eggs, and depicts the Imperial Coronation egg made in 1897.
A Fabergé egg (Russian: Яйца Фаберже́) is a jewelled egg created by the House of Fabergé, in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire. Possibly as many as sixty-nine were created, of which fifty-seven survive today. Virtually all were manufactured under the supervision of Peter Carl Fabergé between 1885 and 1917, the most famous being the fifty-two "Imperial" eggs, forty-six of which survive, made for the Russian Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II as Easter gifts for their wives and mothers. Thanks to the exuberance, intricacy and splendour of decoration, Fabergé Eggs have gained a huge popularity as jewellery masterpieces. |
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| Obverse | |
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The obverse of the coin depicts the crowned mature head of Queen Elizabeth II facing right (her effigy known as the "Fourth Portrait", by Ian Rank-Broadley). The Queen wears the "Girls of Great Britain and Ireland" diamond tiara, a wedding gift from Queen Mary (Her Majesty's grandmother) in 1947 - which she also has on the Machin and the Gottwald portraits. The designer's initials are not shown.
Below the neck truncation and over the I of ELIZABETH, the small MW mint mark of the Mint of Poland (m over W), for Mennica Warszawska (Mint of Warsaw).
The effigy is small and is in the upper half of the design, surrounded by a decorative neo-rococo scroll ornament. Horizontally below, ELIZABETH II. Around above, the rest of the legend: NIUE ISLAND.
The lower half of the design shows an open Fabergé egg with a basket of flowers inside (the "Spring Flowers" egg).
Around left, facing outward, the face value and denomination: 5 DOLLARS. Around right, similarly facing out, the date of issue 2012.
Around below right, the hallmark Au 900 (90% gold; "Au" is abbreviated from Aurum, the Latin word for gold, and is internationally used to mark gold coins and jewellery). |
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| Reverse | |
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Within a plain border, the reverse of the coin shows the Imperial Coronation egg made under the supervision of the Russian jeweller Peter Carl Fabergé in 1897 by Fabergé ateliers, Mikhail Perkhin and Henrik Wigstrom. The egg was made to commemorate Tsarina, Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna, wife of Russian Emperor Nicholas II. Its guilloché field of starbursts is in reference to the cloth-of-gold robe worn by the Tsarina at her Coronation.
Shown in the foreground is the precise replica, less than four inches long, of the 18th-century Imperial coach that carried the Tsarina Alexandra to her coronation at Moscow's Uspensky sobor (Dormition Cathedral) on 15 May 1896. It fitted inside a velvet-lined compartment within the egg.
Below left, the monogram of the designer, RK (R over K), for Robert Kotowicz.
Around above, the inscription IMPERIAL FABERGÉ EGGS. |
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| Reverse Inscription |
IMPERIAL FABERGÉ EGGS |
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| Edge | Plain | Edge Inscription | None |
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| Included in Set |
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Imperial Fabergé Egg Series Proof Gold Set, mintage unknown, limited to 777
9 coins: Order of St George Egg, Rosebud Egg, Moscow Kremlin Egg, Coronation Egg, Cockerel Egg, Swan Egg, Winter Egg, Lily Bouquet Egg, Napoleonic Egg
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