Gold Ounce 2017 Star Wars - Darth Vader, Coin from Niue - detailed information

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 coins under the authority of Niue. Most of these are commemorative and collector issues dedicated to historical or general popular culture themes not related to Niue itself. Many of them are in standard bullion sizes, including one ounce of gold (abbreviated as 1 oz Au, where "Au" comes from the Latin word for gold, Aurum). Those issued at prices much higher than their bullion value are separately listed in the Non-Circulating Legal Tender (NCLT) gold ounce section of the site.

Unlike them, this coin is targeted at bullion investors and was initially released at a price close to the value of its precious metal content.

This bullion coin is part of a New Zealand Mint series dedicated to Star Wars characters and features Darth Vader.

Darth Vader was originally known as Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars franchise and was a Jedi warrior prophesied to bring balance to the Force. However, he became a leading force of disruption and evil when he was turned to the dark side of the force by Palpatine. Like many evil characters though, Vader earns redemption following an encounter with his son, Luke Skywalker.